The Alibaba stock price opened at $82.30 today (Wednesday) after the company reported record sales on the world's biggest shopping day, Singles' Day.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) stock is now up 37.2% since the start of October.
Alibaba announced that within the first eight minutes of Singles' Day, more than $1 billion had already been spent over its network of e-commerce sites. After 12 hours, nearly $9 billion had been spent. Alibaba officially reported $13 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) with one hour left in Singles' Day.
That GMV figure was nearly 40% higher than Alibaba's 2014 Singles' Day total of $9.3 billion. In 2013, GMV was $5.8 billion on the holiday.
Each year on Nov. 11 (think 11/11), Chinese bachelors and bachelorettes celebrate their single lives. The holiday is popular with young people, who throw parties and shower themselves and each other with gifts.
Singles' Day began in 1993, but took off in 2009. That's when Alibaba began promoting the holiday.
And it's far surpassed its American counterpart, Cyber Monday. According to ComScore, Cyber Monday 2014 accounted for total sales of just $1.35 billion in the United States.
Alibaba Chairman and founder Jack Ma addressed some of the concerns Americans have with the Chinese economy, but said he believes a 7% growth rate in the country is achievable.
He also said that the country's Internet industry will be a significant driver of growth moving forward.
"We've got 300 million middle-class people, and we believe in the next 15 years ... a half billion people will be middle class, and the demand for high-quality products, high-quality services is huge," Ma told CNBC today.
That massive Internet audience is part of the reason we've been bullish on the Alibaba stock price throughout 2015. Here's why we continue to recommend long-term investors buy BABA stock...
Why the Alibaba Stock Price Has Farther to Climb (NYSE: BABA)
Another reason we're bullish on the Alibaba stock price is the company's continued strong earnings reports.
For fiscal Q2 2016, Alibaba reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.57 on revenue of $3.5 billion. Consensus estimates called for EPS of $0.54 on $3.35 billion in revenue.
Revenue jumped an incredible 32% year over year. Gross merchandise volume was up 28% from the previous year.
Aside from strong quarterly financial growth, Alibaba continues to grow into a global company.
Alibaba stock was up another 2.6% last week when the company announced the $3.6 billion purchase of the Chinese video streaming site Youku Tudou Inc. (NYSE ADR: YOKU).
It was just the latest in a string of acquisitions for Alibaba. In August, Alibaba spent $4.6 billion for a stake in the Chinese electronics chain Suning Commerce Group Inc. Over the past two years, BABA has purchased companies in numerous industries, including entertainment, retail, tech, and even professional soccer.
It's part of Alibaba's plan to become more than just an e-commerce company, something that Ma recently shared with shareholders in a letter.
"Our key priorities for the next decade will be globalization, development of the rural economy, and big data," Ma said. "At this historic time, Alibaba Group must embrace change, invest in change, and drive change."
That vision for global growth is part of the reason why Money Morning Executive Editor Bill Patalon recommends Alibaba.
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"Alibaba's moves into entertainment, media, cloud computing - these are all part of a broad vision Jack Ma and his executive team has for Alibaba," Patalon said.
Patalon says you can't look at Alibaba as a short-term investment. This is the kind of stock you buy and hold for a long period of time. The company has its sights set on the long term.
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