TLDR
- JPMorgan raised Alibaba’s Hong Kong price target to HK$240 by end of 2026, the highest among analysts tracked by Bloomberg
- The new target represents a 36% gain from Tuesday’s close and is based on improved cloud revenue outlook and AI-commerce synergy
- Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares jumped 53% in September, the best performance on the Hang Seng Index
- The company’s AI-driven mapping app Amap hit a record 360 million daily active users on China’s National Day holiday
- Alibaba ADRs are up over 115% in 2025, while Hong Kong shares have climbed 122% this year
JPMorgan Chase has set a new street-high price target for Alibaba. The bank raised its target for Hong Kong shares by almost 45% to HK$240 per share by the end of 2026.
The new target represents a 36% gain from Tuesday’s close. JPMorgan analysts led by Alex Yao say the valuation at 12 times fiscal 2028 earnings offers room for upside.
The upgrade is based on an improved cloud revenue outlook. The team also cited growing synergy between Alibaba’s AI and e-commerce operations.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares jumped 53% in September. This was the best performance on the Hang Seng Index.
Investor enthusiasm surged after the company announced plans to increase AI spending. The new target exceeds an original goal of more than $53 billion.
The company also revealed a new partnership with Nvidia. This deal has helped fuel optimism about Alibaba’s AI strategy.
AI Integration Across Multiple Platforms
Yao said Alibaba is positioned to participate at every stage of generative AI. This includes compute, platforms, and apps.
The company is directly improving merchant economics through AI integration. JPMorgan told investors to look past negative impacts from a food delivery war and quick commerce in 2027.
Alibaba’s American depositary receipts are up more than 115% in 2025. The Hong Kong shares have climbed 122% this year.
The stock gained 3.5% in Hong Kong trading on Thursday. Alibaba’s ADRs climbed 2.8% ahead of the U.S. open after rising 2.3% on Wednesday.
Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony said global investors are looking for alternatives. Many see the Magnificent Seven valuations as highly stretched.
Record User Numbers for Amap
The company’s AI-driven mapping app Amap set a new record. The platform logged more than 360 million daily active users on Wednesday.
This milestone came on the first day of China’s eight-day National Day holiday. The user count represents a record for the platform.
Excitement has been building about DeepSeek’s newest AI model. The tech company said the model has better training and reasoning capabilities.
The new model can operate at a lower cost. This development has added to the optimism around Chinese AI stocks.
Other Chinese tech stocks also gained on Thursday. Baidu rose 4.5% while JD.com climbed 3.1%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 1.6% overall. The gains came as part of an ongoing AI rally.
JPMorgan’s price target boost comes from the same team that referred to some Chinese internet stocks as “uninvestable” in March 2022. That label was attributed to an editorial error.
Preliminary data showed China residential home sales steadied in September. This has boosted hopes about the country’s property market recovery.
Alibaba unveiled a new language model last month as part of its AI push. The company has increased spending commitments on AI infrastructure and development.
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