CICC Lifts BABA-W FY25 Non-GAAP Earnings Estimate by 3% on Merchant Service Optimization, Operating Cost Cuts

$BABA-W (09988.HK)$ has implemented a series of measures recently to protect merchant rights, lower merchant barriers, and reduce operating costs, CICC released a report indicating. These measures included relaxing refund-only policies to cut the costs related to returning goods and issuing refunds by merchants as well as replacing the DSR rating system with experience scores to encourage merchants to enhance their customer service.

The broker maintained its revenue and EBITA forecasts for BABA-W unchanged, but raised its FY25 non-GAAP net profit forecast by 3% to RMB160.5 billion in light of the fading base effect of one-time expenses from the previous year.

The broker kept its TP for $Alibaba (BABA.US)$ and $BABA-W (09988.HK)$ at US$112 and $109 respectively.