BABA Stock: Why Long-Term Investors Will Be Glad They Bought

Alibaba Supercharging & Innovating Amid Trade War

The stock market is clearly fixated on the China trade war… But I can guarantee you that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is not concerned with the constant barrage of daily news about whether a deal will surface or whether the two biggest economies are moving towards a decoupling. And this points to why holders of BABA stock are going to be happy in the long run.

Simply look at what Alibaba has been doing since the trade war started last year.

BABA has been focusing steadily on ramping up its consumer segment, while  at the same time accelerating the growth of its rapidly growing cloud solutions business and expanding its massive financial payments arm.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com

Anyone invested in or considering investing in Alibaba stock needs to ignore the noise regarding China.

Despite what you may be hearing, the country is continuing to grow its economy and is driving consumer spending, which is expected to form the backbone of its future economy.

Ultimately, China wants to reduce its dependence on exports and imports. This goal, as you have seen, is being challenged by the trade war.

After recently listening to Alibaba’s “2019 Investor Day,” presentation, I came away with a much more optimistic view of BABA stock and where it’s heading.

The focus of Alibaba will be targeted on powering up its already massive consumer segment base in China and other growth regions, such as India.

It’s a Great Time to Be a BABA Stock Holder

For BABA, it’s an opportune time to take advantage of the rapid growth in consumer spending in China.

The chart by Trading Economics shows the steady rise in consumer spending in China from 2010 to 2018. (Source: “Trading Economics Web Site,” last accessed October 4, 2019.)

Alibaba is aggressively aiming to target over one billion in annual active consumers and greater than RMB10 trillion (USD$1.4 trillion) in annual gross merchandise volume in China by the completion of 2024.

There is no reason why the targets are not attainable given the acceleration in consumer spending by the Chinese consumer.

Alibaba currently has around 730 million annual active consumers in China and 130 million annual active consumers, so the target is within reach.

Consider that private consumption in China accounts for only 39.4% of the country’s nominal GDP in December 2018, well below the 70% or so stateside. (Source: “CEIC Data,” last accessed October 4, 2019.)

Given the numbers, it’s not surprising that China wants the Chinese consumer to spend more. This will happen. It’s a matter of when, not if.

Analyst Take

In addition to China, Alibaba is also aggressively expanding its presence in India, which opens up a market of another billion people and a rapidly rising middle class.

BABA stock is trading up 24.29% this year and 10.18% over the past year, easily outperforming Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and the Nasdaq.

If Alibaba can come close to its goals, I’m pretty confident those holding BABA stock will be happily rewarded in the long term.