OREANDA-NEWS  Alibaba's quarterly profit exceeded estimates, but revenue fell short of expectations. Alibaba cut its revenue growth forecast for the year. Analysts believe in the company and expect the growth of quotations during the year by almost 50%

Problems in China's economy have created difficulties for Alibaba's online trading platform. The quarterly profit of the e-Commerce leader in China exceeded estimates, but the revenue did not meet expectations. The company said that the profit in 2019 will be less than the initial forecasts due to the "current macroeconomic conditions". After reporting Alibaba shares first rose in price, and then went into minus.

According to the results of the last quarter, the Chinese online giant reported an increase in quarterly revenue by half-by 54%, to $12.4 billion in the same period last year, Alibaba earned only $8.3 billion.

Revenue in the business of cloud computing Alibaba Cloud increased by 90% and amounted to $825 million Revenue in the business of innovation and other projects increased by 20% and reached $155 million Revenue in the business of digital media and entertainment reached $865 million, which is 24% higher than last year.

Net profit for the reporting quarter reached $ 2.92 billion, which is 13% higher than last year. Earnings per share of Alibaba Group Holding reached $1.11. Adjusted earnings per share was $ 1.4. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Alibaba's adjusted earnings per share to be $1.06 compared to $1.29 last year.

The number of monthly active users of Alibaba mobile app in the reporting quarter increased by 5% and reached 666 million people. 32 million users more than in the previous quarter, when their number amounted to 634 million Alibaba plans to increase the number of customers worldwide to 2 billion by 2036.

In September 2018, the company announced the beginning of a share buyback for the implementation of the previously announced program in the amount of $6 billion as of November 1, 2018, the company bought about 9.12 million of its own shares for a total of $ 1.33 billion.

Alibaba reduced its revenue growth forecast for the year by 4-6%. Revenue for the financial year, which will end in March 2019, will be in the range of 375-383 billion yuan. The company expects that macroeconomic difficulties are likely to reduce sales of consumer durables, such as electronics, and orders for domestic services, including food delivery, will not suffer. Alibaba said it will not monetize the database received from users of Chinese retail platforms in the near future.