By Tracy Qu

Alibaba Group is scheduled to report results for its fiscal third quarter on Thursday. Here is what you need to know:

NET PROFIT: The Chinese e-commerce titan is expected to report net profit of 36.26 billion yuan, equivalent to $4.99 billion, for the three months ended December, according to the consensus estimate of 21 analysts polled by FactSet. That would compare with net profit of 14.43 billion yuan a year earlier, when it booked more than $3 billion in impairments related to retail operator Sun Art and the Youku video platform, and 43.87 billion yuan in the September quarter.

REVENUE: Third-quarter revenue was likely 279.03 billion yuan, according to FactSet, up from 260.35 billion yuan in the previous year and 236.50 billion yuan in the previous quarter.

The company's Hong Kong-listed stock declined 25% in the December quarter, in part a correction from sharp gains in late September when China's policy push lifted stocks across the board. Alibaba's shares have since regained momentum, surging more than 50% this year amid the buzz around DeepSeek and AI more broadly.

WHAT TO WATCH:

--DOMESTIC E-COMMERCE: Alibaba's gross merchandise value and customer management revenue, a metric that tracks how much it makes through merchants, likely improved faster than initial projections, thanks to a decent Singles' Day sales campaign and rising adoption of a new digital marketing tool, Citi analysts led by Alicia Yap said in a research note. Citi projected 5% growth in customer management revenue for the fiscal third quarter, up from 3.7% forecast previously.

--CLOUD COMPUTING: Alibaba's cloud revenue likely grew 10% during the December quarter, according to HSBC analysts. Investors will also be watching for further developments after the Chinese tech giant's chairman said last week that Apple will use Alibaba's AI technology for iPhones in China.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2025 23:15 ET (04:15 GMT)

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