Alibaba is popping after reporting stronger than expected earnings

Alibaba Group, the massive Chinese online retailer, posted stronger than expected fiscal second quarter earnings on Wednesday morning and the stock is popping.

The Chinese online retailer posted earnings of 5.26 Chinese yuan per share against analyst expectations of 4.69 Chinese yuan. Revenue came in at 34.3 billion yuan against the 33.9 billion yuan expected by analysts.

In US dollar denominated terms, the company earned $0.79 per share and revenue of $5.12 billion.

""Beyond the strong performance of our core commerce business, we are pleased with the continued rapid growth of our cloud computing business," said Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang.

"We also see huge potential in our newly integrated digital media and entertainment unit. By combining engaging online experiences with highly relevant content, we delivered impressive financial and operational results in the quarter across the company."

The company itself noted the beat on expectations, tweeting that the results were a "clean beat from top to bottom."

 Following the news, Alibaba's stock rose in pre-market trading by just over 2% as of 7:35 a.m. ET to $103.38 per share.

Market Insider