Alibaba's Singles' Day Gross Merchandise Value Up 40% In First Half Of Day

Morgan Stanley said Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA)’s Singles' Day midday gross merchandise value (GMV) rose 40 percent, with mobile ratio at 83.6 percent.

Alibaba's GMV reached Rmb80.7 billion at 12:00 p.m. on November 11 versus Rmb57.6 billion to midday on last year’s Singles' Day. As of 3:19 p.m., Alibaba's GMV was over Rmb91.2 billion, breaking last year's GMV on Singles' Day.

The Holiday

Singles' Day is held every year on November 11. The day is also called Double Eleven because of its date.

“We note that market expectations for GMV is at 30–35 percent yoy growth, and with this momentum, we believe Alibaba is on the right track to achieve that expectation, if not beat it,” analyst Julia Zhu wrote in a note.

Breaking Records

The Chinese e-commerce giant recorded peak transactions/sec of 175,000 within first 30 minutes compared to 145,000 last year, and peak payment orders processed/second reached 120,000 versus 85,900 last year, supported by AliCloud.

Zhu expects Alibaba will focus on globalization this year as it expands Double 11 celebration to regions and countries outside mainland China, e.g., Hong Kong, Taiwan, and sea countries.

Zhu has an Overweight rating on Alibaba shares, with a price target of $132.

Shares of Alibaba closed Thursday’s trading at $94.34. In the pre-market hours on Friday, they fell 1.10 percent to $93.30.