Chinese Concept Stocks | Alibaba Soars Over 8% as Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index Climbs 1.6%

On February 20th, Eastern Standard Time (Thursday), the three major U.S. stock indexes collectively closed lower. The S&P 500 index fell by 0.43%, closing at 6117.52 points; the Dow Jones index dropped by 1.01%, closing at 44176.65 points; and the Nasdaq index decreased by 0.47%, closing at 19962.36 points.

On February 19th, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index declined by 0.38%.

Among popular Chinese stocks, Bilibili rose by 8.76%, Alibaba increased by 8.10%, JD.com climbed by 5.10%, Baidu increased by 1.84%, NetEase fell by 2.64%, XPeng Motors decreased by 1.67%, TSMC dropped by 0.46%, NIO fell by 0.34%, and Pinduoduo decreased by 0.02%.

During the recent consecutive rise of Chinese stocks, GDS Holdings rose by 12.76% over 10 consecutive days, with a cumulative increase of 86.90%. Zai Lab gained 0.06% over 6 days with a cumulative rise of 14.52%. Yiren Digital increased by 1.65% over 6 days with a total increase of 8.84%. Silvercorp Metals rose by 1.36% over 6 days with a cumulative growth of 15.53%. Canadian Solar gained 2.71% over 6 days with an increase of 17.13%. Yiren Digital increased by 2.71% over 6 days with a total increase of 20.70%. 51job rose by 4.35% over 6 days with a growth of 10.77%. Kandi Technologies increased by 6.67% over 6 days with a cumulative growth of 32.11%. 17 Education & Technology Group increased by 1.04% over 6 days with a total rise of 22.64%. Austin Technology gained 0.75% over 6 days with a cumulative increase of 5.93%.

During the recent consecutive decline of Chinese stocks, Cango fell by 4.76% over 7 consecutive days, with a cumulative decrease of 19.39%. Yuxin Technology declined by 5.32% over 7 days with a cumulative drop of 37.09%. Aurora Mobile decreased by 4.69% over 7 days with a total decline of 18.04%. Nature's Sunshine Products fell by 4.62% over 6 days with a cumulative decrease of 26.51%. Kuke Music dropped by 5.86% over 5 days with a total decline of 24.20%. Suxuantang decreased by 0.37% over 5 days with a cumulative drop of 4.66%.

Most popular Chinese stocks rose, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closing up 1.6%. Alibaba rose over 8%, JD.com and Weibo increased by more than 5%, Baidu gained nearly 2%, WeRide fell by nearly 19%, iQIYI dropped by nearly 10%, NetEase fell by nearly 3%, and XPeng Motors decreased by nearly 2%.

An analysis of BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund's January holdings reveals that, in terms of Chinese stock investments, it newly established positions in Alibaba ADR, China Construction Bank H shares, and BYD Electronics, while significantly reducing its holding in CATL. In January, the fund, valued at over $4 billion, made the following changes to its Chinese stock holdings: it increased its holdings in China Construction Bank H shares by 52.19 million shares, Zijin Mining H shares by 15.54 million shares, Sany Heavy Industry A shares by 4.24 million shares, Alibaba ADR by 420,000 shares, Tencent Holdings ADR by 390,000 shares, BYD Electronics H shares by 2.6 million shares, reduced CATL A shares by 1.21 million shares, and reduced ENN Energy by 1.8 million shares.

At Alibaba's earnings call, executives clarified that there are currently no plans to sell Freshippo. Freshippo has demonstrated strong growth, stable expansion, and impressive overall profitability, marking a successful integration of a digital new retail strategy that combines online and offline efforts. Alibaba intends to adopt a more open approach, including introducing strategic investors, to reflect the value of the Freshippo business in the overall valuation of the Alibaba Group.

On February 20th, during the Q4 earnings call, NetEase's CEO Ding Lei and the management team disclosed that "Marvel Duel" has surpassed 40 million registered users. The company will continue to focus on product optimization and increase marketing efforts in overseas markets, aiming to sustain operations for over 10 years.

Alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming stated at the earnings meeting that the primary goal within Alibaba's AI strategy is the realization of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), potentially exceeding any currently visible application scenarios. In terms of the commercial value of AGI, its standard definition is the ability to perform over 80% of human capabilities. Currently, 50% of global GDP expenditure is on employee wages, including both mental and physical labor. Therefore, Alibaba anticipates that if AGI is realized, the AI-related industry is likely to become the largest industry globally, potentially impacting or replacing around 50% of the current GDP composition.

Alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming mentioned during the FY2025 Q3 earnings call that looking towards the future, Alibaba will continue to focus on three main business types: domestic and international e-commerce, AI+cloud computing technology, and internet platform products. Over the next three years, the group will concentrate on AI as a strategic core, increasing investment in three areas: AI and cloud computing infrastructure, AI foundational model platforms, and AI-native applications, as well as the AI transformation and upgrading of existing businesses.

Alibaba executives stated that over the next three years, the group's investment in cloud and AI infrastructure is expected to surpass the total investment of the past 10 years. This will significantly enhance the R&D investment in AI foundational models, ensuring technological advancement and industry leadership, and promoting the development of AI-native applications.

On February 20th, Haier Group's subsidiary, Katerra Holdings, reached an agreement with China Ping An's Yunchen Capital to acquire approximately 41.91% of Autohome's shares held by Yunchen Capital for a total price of about $1.8 billion, becoming the controlling shareholder of Autohome. China Ping An will continue to indirectly hold the remaining shares in Autohome through Yunchen Capital. After the transaction, Autohome will serve as a key hub in Haier's automotive industry ecosystem, continuing to consolidate and develop its existing business with support from both Haier and Ping An.

Baidu's homepage launched the DeepSeek entry, which was used by over 10 million users within just 1 hour of its release. Baidu Search has now fully launched the DeepSeek full-powered version and provides network services. On the PC end, over 10 million users accessed it within just 1 hour. Unlike other products that have integrated DeepSeek, users can experience it by clicking "AI Search DeepSeek Full-Powered Version" under the search bar on Baidu's homepage. Notably, Baidu Search has integrated the full-powered version of DeepSeek, incorporating Baidu's network search functionality, and features retrieval enhancement RAG technology, allowing users to access more up-to-date and accurate information.

Alibaba's financial report shows that in FY2025 Q3, the company repurchased a total of 119 million ordinary shares (equivalent to 15 million ADS) at a total price of $1.3 billion. As of December 31, 2024, Alibaba still had $20.7 billion remaining under the board-authorized share repurchase program, valid until March 2027.

Alibaba Group announced that for the quarter ending December 31, 2024, the revenue of its Cloud Intelligence Group was RMB 31.742 billion ($4.349 billion), an increase of 13% year-over-year.

Alibaba reported its December 2024 quarterly results, with FY2025 Q3 (quarter ending December 31, 2024) revenue reaching RMB 280.15 billion, an 8% year-over-year increase, compared to an estimated RMB 277.37 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was RMB 62.05 billion. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 48.945 billion ($6.705 billion). Net income was RMB 46.434 billion ($6.361 billion), a 333% year-over-year increase. Diluted earnings per ADS were RMB 20.39 ($2.79) and diluted earnings per share were RMB 2.55 ($0.35 or HKD 2.75). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS were RMB 21.39 ($2.93), a 13% year-over-year increase.

Autohome announced that its major shareholder, Yunchen Capital, a subsidiary of China Ping An, transferred $1.8 billion of shares to a Haier Group subsidiary.

Alibaba's stake in China International Capital Corporation H shares decreased from 10.66% to 6.85%.

NetEase Cloud Music's full-year 2024 revenue was RMB 7.95 billion, compared to RMB 7.867 billion in the previous year.

NetEase's fourth-quarter revenue was RMB 26.7 billion, compared to the market estimate of RMB 27.25 billion. NetEase's fourth-quarter adjusted net income per ADS from continuing operations was RMB 15.09, compared to an estimate of RMB 12.56. Fourth-quarter revenue was RMB 26.75 billion, compared to an estimate of RMB 27.25 billion. Fourth-quarter online game services net revenue was RMB 21.24 billion, compared to an estimated RMB 20.9 billion. Fourth-quarter innovative and other business net revenue was RMB 2.29 billion, compared to an estimated RMB 2.61 billion. Fourth-quarter gross profit was RMB 16.27 billion, compared to an estimated RMB 16.69 billion. Fourth-quarter online game services gross profit was RMB 14.17 billion, compared to an estimated RMB 14.39 billion. Fourth-quarter online game services gross margin was 66.7%, compared to an estimated 68.6%.

Jingwei Shares stated on February 20th via an interactive platform that it adopted Alibaba Cloud's cloud services and collaborated with Alibaba Cloud on Hangzhou Yuhang's city brain social governance project.

On February 20th, Ele.me announced that under the unified guidance of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, it has launched a pilot project for occupational injury protection for new employment forms in the first batch of 7 provinces and cities nationwide, fully and adequately paying insurance premiums for riders, and will continue to fully and actively respond to the unified deployment of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in more cities to promote the coverage of "new occupational injury" insurance. Since February 2023, Ele.me has been conducting pilot projects in certain cities with ecosystem partners to pay social security for Ele.me Blue Knights and has been continuously increasing special subsidies for stabilizing riders in terms of coverage and scope. The company will continue to implement various social security plans for new employment groups as advocated and required by policies and accelerate the comprehensive protection of delivery riders' rights. In the past year, Ele.me invested over RMB 200 million to strengthen the protection of riders' meals, labor protection, and welfare benefits. Starting in 2023, Ele.me launched the industry's first riders' station system, building 150,000 riders' stations