Alibaba is about to release its financial report: Wall Street predicts a decline in revenue, slowdown in cloud business, and more details on spin-offs?

Alibaba announced its first-quarter (Q4 of fiscal year 2023) earnings report before the US stock market opened today. In addition to the performance itself, investors also need to pay attention to the news of business spin-offs.

Alibaba's financial report may receive more attention than ever before, as the latest report may contain more details about its spin-off plan.

Market expectations

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect Alibaba's revenue to reach US$29.97 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which is lower than the US$30.28 billion in the same period last year; earnings per share are expected to increase from US$1.18 in the same period last year to US$1.36.

This means that this is another quarter of revenue decline. Last year, due to the blockade of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alibaba experienced a revenue decline for the first time.

Alibaba's core e-commerce business will be of concern because it is the largest contributor to the group's revenue.

In addition, Alibaba Cloud business is also of concern, including its artificial intelligence business, and revenue growth is expected to remain below 1%.

In addition, the financial report and subsequent conference call may involve more important news than performance itself.

It is worth mentioning that in March of this year, Alibaba announced a plan to split the company into six departments and opened the door for its six subsidiaries to go public separately.

This move marks Alibaba's transformation from an enterprise group to a holding company, aiming to release shareholder value and cultivate market competitiveness.

There have been rumors that Cainiao Logistics, Hema Fresh, and Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group will go public separately, but investors have been waiting for more details.