We have known for many years that Alibaba is the main e-commerce player when it comes to the Chinese markets but it is also known that a lot of its competitors have arrived at the big stage since then and while they were all under Alibaba so far, one of them has now risen so much that it has even overtaken the behemoth that is Alibaba in the Chinese markets. As per the latest report, Pinduoduo has now become the most valuable e-commerce player in the Chinese market and taken over the crown from Alibaba which held it for almost a decade.
It is worth noting that Alibaba’s rival PDD has now reached a market cap of $196 billion which is even higher than that of Alibaba. Also, Morgan Stanley has downgraded Alibaba’s rating for the first time in a rare move from overweight to equal-weight which does not mean that it is losing any market share but the fact that it does not have its “overweight” rating anymore is a cause of concern for Alibaba. Also, Morgan Stanley lowered Alibaba’s price target from $110 to $90 which does tell you that the company does not see Alibaba’s stocks growing as much as it earlier expected.
Alibaba’s decision to withdraw the spinoff of its cloud business “brings uncertainty to the value-unlocking from reorganization,” as per analysts. It is also said that Alibaba is seeing a slower-than-expected turnaround which is also why its stocks were downgraded in the first place. Due to this reason, Alibaba’s Jack Ma has also told the company to do whatever it takes to stay on top and not let this slip away from them. Morgan Stanley also says that PDD is currently “best placed amid the increasingly entrenched trait of consumer price sensitivity.”
As per a Bloomberg report, “PDD — the eight-year-old upstart best known for its hit Temu marketplace — closed Thursday trading in the US with a market cap of about $196 billion, surpassing Alibaba’s value for the first time. PDD has surged more than 80% so far this year while Alibaba has dropped 15% in US trading”. Alibaba was also removed from Morgan Stanley’s China/HK focus list.
