It’s time to snap up Alibaba shares as they could more than double in a “blue sky scenario” following the company split, according to JPMorgan. Analyst Alex Yao said Wednesday that Alibaba shares have even further upside over the medium- and long-term, even after the e-commerce giant’s reorganization announcement spurred the stock to close higher on Tuesday by more than 14%. In fact, Yao’s $210 price target on Alibaba’s US-listed shares implies the stock has roughly 113% upside from Tuesday’s closing price of $98.40. The stock is up more than 2% on Wednesday afternoon. BABA 1D mountain Alibaba US-listed shares 1-day “From an investor sentiment impact perspective, we liken Alibaba’s reorganization to Google’s transformation to Alphabet, a clear sentiment booster that should drive near-term stock price,” Yao wrote. “Nonetheless, we believe Alibaba’s reorganization could bring about more significant implication to business fundamentals and share price over the mid-to-longer term. We expect positive share price reaction to the reorganization announcement and our sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation analysis indicates a US$210/HK$205 value per share as a blue sky scenario,” Yao added. Alibaba said Tuesday that it will split its company into six business groups , a significant restructuring of the Chinese tech giant that will mean each of the companies can go raise outside funding and go public — with the exception of Taobao, which will remain wholly-owned by Alibaba. Each firm will also have its own CEO and board of directors. The decision gave a boost to Alibaba, which in recent years have struggled with slowing economic growth in China. Alibaba shares are more than 14% higher in 2023, but they dropped by 25% in 2022, and by roughly 49% the prior year. However, the analyst expects the split could mean a “more nimble and agile” and “cost-efficient” Alibaba. According to the firm, the decision making has been slower at Alibaba compared to some of its peers. “At the group level, we believe the reorganization will lead to consistent margin improvement in the future,” Yao said. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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