Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Q2 adjusted earnings of RMB13.10 per share

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) announced earnings for its second quarter that increased from the same period last year.

The company’s bottom line came in at RMB72.54 billion, or RMB27.51 per share. This compares with RMB20.03 billion, or RMB7.62 per share, in last year’s second quarter.

Excluding items, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported adjusted earnings of RMB32.75 billion or RMB13.10 per share for the period.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 39.8% to RMB119.02 billion from RMB85.15 billion last year.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q2): RMB32.75 Bln. vs. RMB23.45 Bln. last year.
-EPS (Q2): RMB13.10 vs. RMB9.60 last year.
-Revenue (Q2): RMB119.02 Bln vs. RMB85.15 Bln last year.

Alibaba shares gain after big earnings beat

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s American depositary shares are up 3% in premarket trading Friday after the Chinese e-commerce giant reported a sizable earnings beat while topping expectations on revenue as well.

The company reported September-quarter net income of RMB72.5 billion ($10.1 billion), or RMB27.51 a share ($3.85), up from RMB20 billion, or RMB7.62 a share, in the year-prior quarter. Excluding non-recurring items, Alibaba’s BABA, -0.48% adjusted earnings per share rose to RMB13.10 ($1.83) from RMB9.60, whereas analysts surveyed by FactSet were calling for RMB10.75.

Alibaba’s revenue rose to RMB119 billion ($16.7 billion) from RMB85.1 billion and came in ahead of estimates, which modeled RMB117 billion. The company saw RMB101.2 billion in revenue from its core commerce segment, which includes the popular Taobao and Tmall platforms. Alibaba had 693 million annual active customers on its China retail marketplaces and 785 million mobile monthly active users.

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The company disclosed that cloud-computing revenue climbed to RMB9.3 billion from RMB5.7 billion, marking 64% growth.

See also: Alibaba is expanding its commercial platform to U.S. small businesses

Alibaba shares have gained 29% so far this year, as the S&P 500 SPX, -0.30% has risen 21%.

Tobacco products company Turning Point reviews options for vaping business as earnings beat

Tobacco products maker Turning Point Brands Inc. shares TPB, +1.56% rose about 4% in premarket trade Friday, after the company posted stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings and said it’s reviewing its strategic options for its third-party vaping business. The negative headlines that have swirled since late summer as more than 1,000 Americans were sickened by a severe lung disease stemming from vaping has "dramatically disrupted" that business, the company said in a statement. "Management believes the expected future returns from third-party vaping distribution may no longer justify the required investment of human and financial resources going forward," the company said. The board has started a review of the business and will repurpose infrastructure to support its CBD sales instead. The company said it had net income of $6.3 million in the quarter, or 31 cents a share, in the third quarter, down from $7.9 million, or 40 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 56 cents, a full 10 cents a head of the 46 cents FactSet consensus. Sales rose 16.1% to $96.8 million, also ahead of the $78.0 million FactSet consensus. Smokeless sales rose 20.4%, while smoking sales roe 7.6%, due to demand for wraps and papers. The company is now expecting full-year sales of $361 million to $367 million, compared with a FactSet consensus of $339 million. Shares have fallen 21% in 2019, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.30% has gained 21%.

GST collections remain subdued at ₹ 95,380 crore in October

This is the third consecutive month when GST mop-up remained below the ₹ 1 lakh crore mark, despite October being a festive month.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in October declined to ₹ 95,380 crore, as against ₹ 1,00,710 crore in the same month a year ago, as per government data released on Friday.

This is the third consecutive month when GST mop-up remained below the ₹ 1 lakh crore mark, despite October being a festive month.

 The revenue collection in September stood at ₹ 91,916 crore.

“The gross GST revenue collected in the month of October, 2019 is ₹ 95,380 crore of which CGST is ₹ 17,582 crore, SGST is ₹ 23,674 crore, IGST is ₹ 46,517 crore (including ₹ 21,446 crore collected on imports) and Cess is ₹ 7,607 crore (including ₹ 774 crore collected on imports),” the finance ministry said in a statement.

It further said the total number of GSTR 3B returns (summary of self-assessed return) filed for the month of September (up to October 30) was 73.83 lakh.

Chicago Business Barometer Tumbles To Nearly Four-Year Low In October

MNI Indicators released a report on Thursday showing Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly slid further into contraction in the month of October.

The report said the Chicago business barometer tumbled to 43.2 in October from 47.1 in September, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 48.0.

With the unexpected decrease, the Chicago business barometer slumped to its lowest level since December of 2015.

The unexpected drop by the headline index came as demand weakened significantly, with the new orders index plunging to its lowest level since March of 2009.

The report said the production index rebounded to 46.8 in October but pointed to a contraction for the fourth consecutive month.

On the inflation front, the prices index dipped to 54.8 but continued to indicate growth, as lower steel prices were offset by upward pressure from tariffs.

When asked about the impact of the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate cuts, a majority of firms said they expect no impact.

Meanwhile, 56.5 percent of firms noted a little negative impact from the government-imposed tariffs and 26 percent indicated a major negative effect.