Alibaba (BABA) Stock Today, Nov. 24, 2025: Qwen AI Boom, Earnings Countdown and New Fraud Probes

Published: November 24, 2025

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA, HKEX: 9988) is back in the spotlight today as the stock jumps on surging adoption of its Qwen AI app, with investors also bracing for Tuesday’s earnings report and digesting a wave of fresh U.S. securities-fraud investigations tied to a controversial White House memo. ^[1]

Alibaba (BABA) stock price today – 24 November 2025

By late U.S. trading on Monday, Alibaba’s U.S.-listed ADRs were changing hands around $160.73, up roughly 5% on the day, with an intraday range of about $157.82 to $161.50 on heavy volume above 21 million shares.

In Hong Kong, Alibaba’s primary listing (9988.HK) closed at HK$154.50, up 4.67% from Friday’s HK$147.60, after trading between HK$147.80 and HK$156.30 with almost 200 million shares changing hands. ^[2]

The rally comes after a powerful year-to-date run:

Hong Kong shares of Alibaba are up roughly 85–90% so far in 2025, according to exchange and index data. ^[3]
U.S. ADRs have similarly surged, with multiple analyses noting an around 80% YTD gain and 2025 prices revisiting levels last seen in early 2021. ^[4]

Even after today’s bounce, BABA trades below its 2025 high near $192.67, implying a pullback of about 17% from its recent peak — a correction that some commentators frame as a reset after an AI-fueled rally. ^[5]

Qwen AI app hits 10 million downloads: the catalyst behind today’s rally

Today’s move in Alibaba stock is overwhelmingly tied to its revamped consumer AI assistant, Qwen.

According to multiple reports, Alibaba’s Qwen app — built on its in‑house Qwen large language model — has logged more than 10 million downloads within a week of its relaunch, putting it among the fastest-growing AI apps in China. ^[6]

Key details about Qwen and today’s reaction:

Download milestone: Qwen surpassed 10 million downloads in one week, according to a company post on WeChat. ^[7]
Share-price response:
- Hong Kong shares jumped more than 5% intraday, topping HK$156 at one point. ^[8]
- U.S. ADRs followed, gaining around 4–5% as U.S. markets opened and extended gains through the session. ^[9]
Product positioning: Qwen is pitched as a full-featured AI assistant that can generate long-form research, complex documents and multi-slide presentations from a single prompt, and Alibaba has described it as “the best personal AI assistant with the most powerful model.” ^[10]
Strategic integration: Recent coverage highlights Alibaba’s plan to fold core lifestyle and e‑commerce services directly into the Qwen app — from Taobao shopping and digital maps to travel booking, food delivery, office tools, education and health guidance — turning Qwen into a cross‑platform AI agent rather than a stand‑alone chatbot. ^[11]

Media outlets from Barron’s to crypto-and-tech sites and mainstream lifestyle business media all point to Qwen’s early traction as the main driver behind today’s jump in Alibaba shares, drawing comparisons to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and positioning Qwen as a key local rival in China’s generative-AI race. ^[12]

For investors, the takeaway is straightforward: today’s BABA rally is primarily an AI sentiment trade, built on the view that a successful Qwen rollout could open new monetization paths across Alibaba’s vast commerce, cloud and digital-services ecosystem.

Earnings on November 25: what the market is pricing in

While AI headlines dominate today, tomorrow’s earnings loom large.

Alibaba has confirmed that it will report unaudited results for the quarter ended 30 September 2025 (its September quarter, effectively Q2 of fiscal 2026) before the U.S. market opens on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, followed by a conference call at 7:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (8:30 p.m. Hong Kong). ^[13]

Wall Street expectations: modest growth, sharp EPS drop

Different data providers show slightly different consensus numbers, but they all point in the same direction: muted revenue growth and a steep year‑on‑year earnings decline.

A Benzinga preview cites analyst estimates of about $0.81 in EPS for the quarter, with investors watching closely for both the headline number and forward guidance. ^[14]
A GuruFocus earnings preview notes that Alibaba is bracing for an EPS decline of roughly 62% year‑on‑year, even as revenue is expected to rise about 1.5% to roughly $34.2 billion, pressured by heavy investments and a soft Chinese macro backdrop. ^[15]
A Barchart analysis (via FinancialContent) points to some forecasts as low as $0.49 per share — a drop of nearly 75% versus the prior year — and highlights that Alibaba has missed EPS expectations in three of its last four quarters. ^[16]

In options markets, traders are reportedly pricing in a move of around 6% in either direction for contracts expiring shortly after the report — slightly below Alibaba’s average post‑earnings swing over the past year. ^[17]

Business segments under the microscope

Commentary on tomorrow’s release repeatedly flags several segments and themes:

Cloud & AI: Alibaba’s Cloud Intelligence Group has been the main bright spot, with prior quarters showing around 26% year‑on‑year growth as AI‑related cloud products deliver triple‑digit revenue growth for multiple consecutive quarters. ^[18]
China e‑commerce competition: The domestic retail business remains under intense competitive pressure, prompting Alibaba to consolidate Taobao, Tmall, Ele.me and Fliggy into a more focused China e‑commerce group and lean more heavily on its 88VIP high‑value member base, which has surpassed 53 million users. ^[19]
Margins vs. investment: Analysts widely expect near‑term margin compression as Alibaba spends heavily on AI infrastructure, new data centers, logistics and “instant commerce” initiatives, even while top‑line growth remains relatively modest. ^[20]

In short, tomorrow’s earnings could either validate or puncture the AI‑driven optimism behind today’s move. Strong cloud and AI metrics with credible cost control would reinforce the bull case; another EPS miss or cautious guidance could quickly revive concerns about over‑spending and slowing growth.

Regulatory and legal clouds: White House memo and a wave of fraud probes

Today’s enthusiasm for Qwen arrives against a complicated legal and geopolitical backdrop for Alibaba stock.

White House memo and military‑ties allegations

Recent news coverage has focused on a White House national‑security memo, reported by the Financial Times and others, which allegedly claims that Alibaba provided technological support to the Chinese military for operations targeting U.S. interests. ^[21]

The company has forcefully denied the allegations. In comments reported by international media, an Alibaba spokesperson called the assertions “completely false” and labeled the memo a “malicious PR operation” aimed at undermining a recent U.S.–China trade deal, reiterating that the firm complies with applicable data and privacy laws. ^[22]

Nevertheless, the initial reports contributed to a sharp one‑day drop in Alibaba’s ADRs earlier this month and have now triggered a series of U.S. shareholder investigations.

Multiple U.S. law firms launch or extend securities‑fraud probes

Over the past several days, at least three major U.S. plaintiff firms have announced investigations involving Alibaba:

Pomerantz LLP issued an Investor Alert on November 20, 2025, stating that it is investigating claims on behalf of Alibaba investors and urging shareholders who suffered losses to contact the firm. ^[23]
The Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz announced a securities‑fraud investigation into Alibaba on November 21, 2025, focusing on potential violations of U.S. federal securities laws and similarly inviting investors who lost money to come forward. ^[24]
The Schall Law Firm followed with its own press release today, November 24, 2025, specifically citing the Reuters / FT reporting on the White House memo and investigating whether Alibaba issued false or misleading statements or failed to disclose material information to investors. ^[25]

News aggregators also show that other well‑known securities firms, including Glancy Prongay & Murray and the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, have announced similar Alibaba‑related investigations in recent days, underscoring the level of legal scrutiny around the stock. ^[26]

At this stage, these are investigations and potential class actions, not findings of wrongdoing. But for BABA shareholders they represent a growing headline‑risk overhang that could amplify volatility around any additional disclosures or regulatory moves.

Chinese anti‑monopoly and algorithm rules

At the same time, Alibaba remains central to China’s evolving tech‑regulation landscape:

On November 15, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released draft anti‑monopoly guidelines for internet platforms, highlighting risks such as unfair pricing, below‑cost sales, account blocking, “choose one of two” exclusivity, and discriminatory treatment by large platforms — all areas with direct relevance to Alibaba’s historical practices. ^[27]
A separate analysis of SAMR’s new “Anti‑Monopoly Compliance Guidelines for Internet Platforms” stresses regulators’ focus on algorithm‑driven pricing, walled‑garden tactics and excessive subsidies used by leading platforms, explicitly referencing companies like Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance. The draft would bar dominant platforms from using technical blockades to shut out rivals and push firms to audit their algorithms for discrimination or collusive pricing. ^[28]

These regulatory initiatives build on China’s multi‑year crackdown on platform monopolies — a campaign in which Alibaba has already been fined heavily — and remain a key macro risk that investors in BABA stock cannot ignore. ^[29]

Institutional buying and Street targets: how “smart money” sees BABA

Offsetting some of the legal and regulatory concern is evidence of institutional accumulation and resilient Wall Street optimism.

A fresh MarketBeat summary of second‑quarter 13F filings shows that Discerene Group LP, a value‑oriented hedge fund, increased its stake in Alibaba by about 0.6%, bringing its position to approximately 2.99 million shares. Alibaba now accounts for roughly 34.9% of Discerene’s portfolio, making it the fund’s single largest holding. ^[30]

The same report highlights a series of incremental increases from other institutional investors, with overall hedge‑fund and institutional ownership estimated at around 13–14% of the float. ^[31]

On the analyst side:

A cluster of major brokers — including CLSA, Bank of America, Benchmark and Jefferies — have raised their price targets on Alibaba in recent months, with some targets reaching $200–$230 per ADR. ^[32]
MarketBeat data show a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”, with the average target price around $190, implying potential upside of roughly 15–20% from today’s levels if those targets prove accurate. ^[33]

Valuation metrics compiled by various platforms suggest that, despite the 2025 rally, BABA trades at a high‑teens price‑to‑earnings multiple and a price‑to‑sales ratio under 3, which many investors view as relatively undemanding compared with U.S. mega‑cap tech peers — provided earnings stabilize and regulatory risks remain manageable. ^[34]

Key factors for Alibaba (BABA) investors to watch after today’s move

Putting it all together, here are the main themes BABA shareholders and traders should be tracking as of November 24, 2025:

Qwen AI monetization, not just downloads
- 10 million downloads in a week is impressive, but the market will want to see evidence of monetization: higher engagement in Taobao/Tmall, increased ad spend, AI‑powered shopping conversions and cloud‑AI revenue linked to Qwen usage. ^[35]
Tomorrow’s earnings quality and guidance
- Consensus expects flat to low‑single‑digit revenue growth and a steep EPS drop. Upside surprises on margins, cloud growth and AI commentary — or at least a clear path back to earnings growth — could validate the stock’s 2025 re‑rating. Weak guidance or another miss could reignite concerns about over‑investment and macro drag. ^[36]
Evolution of U.S. legal actions
- Multiple law firms launching investigations in rapid succession increases headline risk. Any movement from “investigation” to filed class action with detailed allegations — particularly if tied to the White House memo — could weigh on sentiment even if the ultimate legal outcome takes years. ^[37]
Chinese regulatory trajectory
- SAMR’s anti‑monopoly and algorithm guidelines could constrain pricing tactics, exclusivity deals and data‑driven personalization, forcing Alibaba to adapt parts of its platform strategy. How management addresses these rules on tomorrow’s call will be important. ^[38]
Institutional flows and analyst revisions post‑earnings
- Value funds like Discerene increasing stakes and a broad “Buy” consensus provide a supportive backdrop, but those views can shift quickly if earnings and regulatory news disappoint. Watch for target price changes and new 13F data over the coming quarters. ^[39]

Bottom line on BABA stock today

On November 24, 2025, Alibaba’s BABA stock is being pulled in two directions:

Bullish forces:
- A blockbuster early showing for the Qwen AI app, rekindling hopes that Alibaba can be a major player in consumer and enterprise AI. ^[40]
- Strong year‑to‑date price performance driven by cloud growth, AI excitement, corporate restructuring and share buybacks, with notable institutional accumulation and supportive analyst targets. ^[41]
Bearish forces:
- Expectations for a sharp earnings decline tomorrow despite only modest revenue growth, as heavy AI and commerce investments squeeze margins. ^[42]
- A resurfacing legal overhang from multiple securities‑fraud investigations and a politically sensitive White House memo, alongside ongoing Chinese anti‑monopoly and algorithm‑pricing scrutiny. ^[43]

For short‑term traders, BABA now sits at the crossroads of AI hype and earnings event risk, with options markets pricing in another large move around Tuesday’s report. For longer‑term investors, the core question remains whether Alibaba’s AI‑first reinvention and cloud momentum can outrun regulatory, legal and geopolitical headwinds.

As always, this article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Investors should consider their own risk tolerance, time horizon and professional advice before making decisions about Alibaba (BABA) stock.

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