Alibaba misses earnings, buys stake in Ant Financial
HONG KONG - Alibaba Group (BABA) on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $3.7 billion.
The Hong Kong-based e-commerce giant said it had profit of $1.41 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.63 per share.
In addition, Alibaba said it's buying 33 percent of Chinese payments company Ant Financial, the operator of Alipay, which was once part of Alibaba. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba's move to acquire a third of Ant could be a step toward the payment company's own IPO.
Alibaba's latest results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.65 per share.
The online retailer posted revenue of $12.76 billion in the period, which topped Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $12.13 billion.
Alibaba shares have increased 18 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has more than doubled in the last 12 months. But in Thursday premarket trading in the U.S., the stock was down on the earnings miss. Alibaba lost 5 percent, or $10.33, to trade around $194.
