Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) shares have been gaining momentum recently, and Cathie Wood has been steadily adding to her position. On Wednesday, October 15, her ARK Invest funds purchased 75,541 shares of the Chinese e-commerce leader across the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), valued at about $12.3 million. The move signals growing confidence from Wood that Alibaba’s cloud and AI initiatives are gaining traction.
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BABA stock has climbed about 43% in the past three months and is up nearly 98% year-to-date, helped by signs of stronger consumer spending in China and improving profitability in its e-commerce division. The company’s efforts to streamline operations, reduce costs, and expand into cloud and AI-related services have also lifted investor confidence. Overall, Wall Street maintains a Strong Buy consensus on Alibaba stock.
Analysts Are Optimistic on Alibaba Stock
In October, several analysts reaffirmed their bullish outlook on Alibaba and raised their price targets. Among them, Thomas Chong of Jefferie reiterated a Buy rating on Alibaba stock with a price target of $230, Alibaba a “Top Pick for 2026.” The 5-star analyst said Alibaba’s growth remains strong, backed by rising demand for AI and cloud services and improving performance in e-commerce and quick commerce.
Chong expects cloud revenue to rise about 30% year-over-year, driven by wider use of GPU chips, more AI training needs, and higher demand for custom data models across industries. Meanwhile, on the e-commerce side, he highlighted stronger synergies between core commerce and Quick Commerce (QC). He expects customer management revenue (CMR) to grow about 10% year-over-year, supported by higher traffic, cross-selling, and purchase frequency.
Similarly, Goldman Sachs analyst Ronald Keung kept a Buy rating on Alibaba stock and raised the 12-month price target to $205 from $179. He said stronger earnings in e-commerce and faster growth in Alibaba Cloud support the higher price target. Keung said Alibaba’s large AI investment, with spending expected to reach about RMB 460 billion between FY26 and FY28, brings it closer to leading global cloud players.
While near-term profit may dip due to heavy Quick Commerce investment, Keung expects this business to turn profitable over time and help strengthen Alibaba’s “AI + everyday use” strategy, which could lift the stock’s long-term value.
What Is the Price Target for BABA Stock?
Analysts remain bullish about Alibaba’s stock trajectory. With 20 Buy ratings and two Hold ratings, BABA stock commands a Strong Buy consensus rating on TipRanks. Also, the average Alibaba price target of $195.45 implies about 17.80% upside potential from current levels.
