Citi International: Maintains "buy" rating on BABA-W(09988) with target price of HK$182.

Citi International released a research report stating that it maintains a "buy" rating on BABA-W (09988) with a target price of $187 for BABA.US and HK$182 for Hong Kong stocks. The report mentioned that the company's total revenue in the third quarter of the 2026 fiscal year increased by 2% year-on-year, and adjusted EBITA was 23.4 billion RMB, lower than market expectations of 2% and 25%. Core China e-commerce CMR grew by 1% year-on-year, while flash e-commerce revenue increased by 56% year-on-year, and cloud revenue continued to accelerate with a 36% year-on-year growth. The bank sees the company's firm commitment to increasing investment to achieve its long-term goals for AI and cloud business, as well as flash business, namely: 1) external cloud business revenue exceeding $100 billion in the 2031 fiscal year (expected CAGR of over 40% in the next 5 years); 2) flash business GMV exceeding $1 trillion in the 2028 fiscal year and achieving profitability in the 2029 fiscal year.