Alibaba Disappoints in Q3

Jack Ma and his e-tail dynamo, China-based Alibaba Group Holding, turned in disappointing numbers for the third quarter as it faced slowing advertising sales and regulator allegations. The e-commerce giant’s revenues missed estimates, coming in at $4.2 billion for the period.

Analysts had been expecting $4.5 billion. The earnings report comes on the heels of the Chinese government alleging that Alibaba has not adequately cracked down on fakes and other questionable business practices on its sites. Earnings, excluding nonrecurring items, climbed to $0.81 per share, which was much higher than the $0.74 expected by analysts.

«Gross merchandise volume across our China retail marketplaces grew 49% year on year, and our annual active buyers increased to 334 million in 2014, an increase of 45% year on year», CEO Jonathan Lu said. «Our unrivaled leadership and momentum in mobile continued,  we added 48 million active users sequentially and delivered over US$1 billion in mobile revenue during the quarter».

All of the business stats at Alibaba are pointing up, and the excited tone among company executives is arguably justified. But investors and traders were probably just expecting more. Alibaba went public on Sept. 17. The IPO priced at $68 per share but opened for trading at $92.70 per share. That was an instantaneous 36% gain. The share price got as high as $120 in November, but it has been on a steady decline.