Alibaba shares rise 5% in premarket after Chinese tech giant posts 58% jump in profit

Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba on Friday beat profit expectations in its September quarter, but sales fell short as sluggishness in the world's second-largest economy hit consumer spending.

Alibaba said net income rose 58% year-on-year to 43.9 billion Chinese yuan ($6.07 billion) in the company's quarter ending Sept. 30, on the back of the performance of its equity investments. This compared with a LSEG outlook of 25.83 billion yuan.

"The year-over-year increases were primarily attributable to the mark-to-market changes from our equity investments, decrease in impairment of our investments and increase in income from operations," the company said of the annual profit jump in its earnings statement.

Revenue, meanwhile, came in at 236.5 billion yuan, 5% higher year-on-year but below an analyst forecast of 238.9 billion yuan, according to LSEG data.

The company's New York-listed shares have gained ground this year to date, up almost 17% as of Friday. The stock was up 5% in premarket trading at 12:02 p.m. London time, after the release of the quarterly earnings.

Investors are closely watching the performance of Alibaba's main business units, Taobao and Tmall Group, which reported a 1% annual uptick in revenue to 98.99 billion yuan in the September quarter.

The results come at a tricky time for Chinese commerce businesses, given a tepid retail environment in the country.

Markets are now watching whether a slew of recent stimulus measures from Beijing, including a five-year 1.4-trillion-yuan package announced last week, will help resuscitate the country's growth and curtail a long-lived real estate market slump.

The impact on the retail space looks promising so far, with sales rising by a better-than-expected 4.8% year-on-year in October, while China's recent Singles' Day shopping holiday — widely seen as a barometer for national consumer sentiment — regained some of its luster.

Alibaba touted "robust growth" in gross merchandise volume — an industry measure of sales over time that does not equate to the company's revenue — for its Taobao and Tmall Group businesses during the festival, along with a "record number of active buyers."

"Alibaba's outlook remains closely aligned with the trajectory of the Chinese economy and evolving regulatory policies," ING analysts said Thursday, noting that the company's Friday report will shed light on the Chinese economy's growth momentum.

The e-commerce giant's overseas online shopping businesses, such as Lazada and Aliexpress, meanwhile posted a 29% year-on-year hike in sales to 31.67 billion yuan.  

 This breaking news story is being updated.