Buy Shares in Alibaba
After their blockbusting IPO in 2014 thousands of investors rushed to buy shares in Alibaba. Today investors looking to buy shares in Alibaba have a more stable history to work with as they gauge an entry price.
How to Buy Shares in Alibaba
Investors wondering how to buy shares in Alibaba Group will want to follow a few simple steps. Alibaba is listed on the NYSE under the symbol BABA. Shares are typically bought in whole numbers, 100-1500 shares is a typical first-time investment, but many investors choose to buy more. When you buy shares in Alibaba Group you are actually buying part of a structure called a “variable-interest entity” or a VIE. So, what is a VIE? These are structures created to give investors a controlling interest in a company sans the typical voting power that comes with it.
VIEs are created for any number of reasons, for Alibaba it was a way to offer non-Chinese investors the opportunity to buy shares in BABA. Chinese law forbids foreign investors from owning any of China’s key assets; this trust was created using an entity in the Cayman Islands and is currently believed to meet all of the appropriate Chinese and United States accounting laws. Baidu, a Chinese information technology company, occasionally called the “Google of China” is also a VIE. Before you buy shares of BABA your broker should be able to provide you with additional resources on these entities.
How Much to Buy Shares in Alibaba
How much will it cost to buy shares in Alibaba? Shares are typically bought in increments of 100. So, as mentioned, a typical first-time investment would most likely range between 100 and 1,500 shares. Realize that it is normal for new investors to question how much to buy. Shares in BABA are relatively low in volatility, so it is considered a fairly stable company.
Like its primary competitors eBay and Amazon, Alibaba Group is an e-commerce company. This industry is beginning to overtake traditional retail in many areas and the stocks that dominate the space are global companies that have a well-tested supply chain. When you buy shares in BABA you are buying shares of thousands of small international companies that take advantage of Alibaba’s infrastructure and sales platform.
BABA Share News
Investors have been known to use BABA share news as a fear index for other companies that trade under variable-interest entity guidelines. When buying shares of BABA please be aware that this small group of companies can occasionally move in sympathy with one another. This is particularly true when VIE laws are being questioned.
For instance, GigaMedia, a provider of online entertainment software and services that trades under a VIE had a legal dispute with its former CEO. The ensuing weakness in sentiment seemed to transfer to SINA, another Chinese VIE. Before investors buy shares in BABA or any of these VIEs it’s important that they understand the non-traditional nature of the stock. Watching BABA share news is particularly helpful when investors are ready to buy shares in Alibaba Group. Many find that the days surrounding earnings dates or company expansions can be a great time to enter into the asset.
BABA Share History
While BABA is a relatively new ticker and BABA share history is still in its infancy, Alibaba itself has been a titan in China’s e-commerce industry since the early 2000s. Because of Alibaba’s success overseas, NYSE investors saw BABA share history kickoff with the exchange’s top grossing IPO. Opening at $68.00 per share in 2014, traders buying shares in BABA helped the IPO raise over 21.8 billion dollars.
The stunning success of Alibaba’s IPO catapulted founder and CEO Jack Ma onto the world stage and helped him to become one of the world’s wealthiest men. With a net worth of 28.6 billion dollars, Ma did not start out as a businessman, nor was he born into affluence. Ma started his professional life as a college professor and if you look into his early background you will see a man with the internal drive to move mountains.
Ma is first to admit that he failed repeatedly in both traditional academics and in his professional life before successfully launching Alibaba. This perspective seems to have given him a unique dedication to his company and to the people that helped him build it. Alibaba offers competitive support to its small business users and provides them with unprecedented access to the global marketplace. Ma also credits his dedication to Thai-Chi and its philosophy of balance for his ability to overcome failure and hardship.
BABA Share History Continued
Like eBay, Alibaba acts as a liaison between vendors and buyers internationally. The popularity of eliminating expensive advertising and distributorships has created its own industry and global consumers are eager to find vendors that can offer them access to these deeply discounted product lines. BABA share news has not been exempt from criticism, however, several years after its IPO Alibaba began to receive criticism for the company’s inability to control the sale of counterfeit products across its platform.
This was the beginning of weakness in the number of traders looking to buy shares in Alibaba Group. Then, in 2015 Kering, the umbrella company for Gucci, Puma, and Yves Saint Laurent, initiated a lawsuit against BABA for patent infringement.
Alibaba claimed to have spent more than $161 million dollars to battle the sale of counterfeit products on its site. It also claimed that it actively worked to identify and close this vendor’s business. The sale of counterfeit items is something that both eBay and Amazon have taken steps to eliminate as well. When investors buy shares in BABA they also assume some risk from the complex system of international copyright law.
How Much is BABA Worth?
Alibaba has a market cap of $249 billion dollars leading investors to ask, how much is BABA worth? As with any stock price, its worth is a fluid concept that ebbs and flows along with investor sentiment. That being said BABA seems to have created a support level at around $60 per share and has recently demonstrated a rise in sentiment. Investors that wish to buy shares in BABA often track its 20-day moving average then place their bids in the low end of this range.
Current Alibaba Stock Price: Alibaba Stock Price Per Share
Alibaba’s stock price per share usually moves in sympathy with other e-commerce stocks like Amazon and eBay. Because Alibaba functions as a sales channel for many emerging markets, investors that decide to buy shares in BABA watch for sentiment shifts in these areas as well.
You may find that the Alibaba stock price per share has a slightly higher volatility than its peers and can offer investors more opportunity for swing and gap trades.
What Does Alibaba Own?
Alibaba is known for its unique practice of capturing market share in the many industries surrounding the e-commerce market. So, what does Alibaba own? Alibaba owns roughly six smaller companies that encapsulate their shares of industries. There is Juhuasuan, a company similar to Groupon that profits from its marketing campaigns and Aliyun that provides cloud storage and services to Alibaba’s vendors.
Alibaba owns equity in several affiliate companies as well. Alipay functions in a similar manner to PayPal. China Smart Logistics is a logistics supplier for buyers and sellers. Most of what Alibaba owns are companies that it has launched or at least helped to launch. When buying shares of Alibaba, remember that they don’t have the habit of acquiring outside companies with the same voracity as Amazon or eBay.
Alibaba Stock Price History?
When it comes to Alibaba stock price history one of the first things that investors take note of is BABA’s low volatility. While slightly more volatile than eBay and Amazon, Alibaba is a relatively stable stock. Since Alibaba’s IPO in 2014 the company has not initiated any splits and it does not pay a dividend, two moves that can affect a stock’s fluctuations in price.
BABA’s price per share made its first high in November of 2014 at $120 dollars. Weakness in sentiment brought the price down over the next eleven months. Eventually, BABA hit a low of $57.20 in September of 2015. Alibaba stock price history reached a new milestone in August of 2016 when a positive earnings report pushed it back over $100.
Before they buy Alibaba shares many investors track the stock’s 20, 50, and 200-day moving averages to find the best price.
Best Stock Price for Alibaba
What is the best stock price for Alibaba? Investors buying shares in Alibaba have been known to use a variety of strategies to find out. Much Depends on their ultimate goal for the asset. Long-term investors often wait for signs of weakness in market sentiment to find a low price.
While some swing traders prefer to wait for good news or rising sentiment in order to take advantage of smaller gaps between support and resistance levels. When you buy Alibaba shares know what you are willing to pay before you place your bid.