BofA Securities: Maintains "Buy" rating on BABA-W (09988), raises target price to HK$146.

Bank of America Securities released a research report stating that it maintains a "buy" rating on BABA-W (09988), with a target price raised from HK$114 to HK$146. The company's revenue and adjusted net profit forecast for the fiscal year 2026 remains largely unchanged, but the forecast for the fiscal year 2027 has been raised by 4% and 5% respectively to reflect the upside potential from AI. Bank of America pointed out that Alibaba's performance in the last quarter of the fiscal year ending in December significantly exceeded expectations. Cloud business and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are Alibaba's strategic focus and main investment areas. The management expects cloud and AI revenue to continue to accelerate in fiscal year 2026 and has committed to significant strategic investments, including using over 400 billion RMB over the next three years for cloud and AI infrastructure, capital expenditures, AI basic models, and native applications, as well as leveraging AI technology to transform the current e-commerce and other internet platform businesses. The bank believes that this rapid expansion in AI demand will drive cloud intelligence revenue to grow by over 30% year-on-year in fiscal year 2026.