This week in tech: Alibaba's rosy quarter; PayPal's stablecoin; a plunge at Roblox

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By Louis Juricic and Sarina Isaacs

Investing.com — Here is your weekly Pro Recap on the biggest headlines out of tech this week: earnings out of Alibaba, Lyft , Roblox, and Twilio, and a big announcement from PayPal.

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Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) shares climbed Thursday after the China-based e-commerce giant posted fiscal Q1 adjusted core income Thursday that topped analyst estimates, boosted by strong consumer spending during a major shopping event in China in June.

Recent economic data, including numbers earlier this week showing a contraction in consumer prices, have sparked concerns over a sluggish post-pandemic recovery in China, the world's second-largest economy.

But combined revenues at Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall retail platforms still grew by 12% in the June quarter to 114.95B yuan (1 yuan = $0.1387), fueled by increased purchasing activity during the 618 shopping festival.

Meanwhile, Alibaba's cloud division rose to 25.12B yuan thanks in part to demand for its artificial intelligence computing products, in the latest sign of surging interest in the nascent technology.

DZ Bank upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold on this news, and Benchmark — which also calls the stock a buy — called the print an «all-around clean quarter.»

Benchmark added that Alibaba’s new “consumer-centric approach has started bearing early fruit” as the company undergoes “a fundamental turnaround," and said it believes «a sustainable higher margin profile warrants earnings upward revision and a rerating on the stock» as multiple strategic assets «are back on a high-growth trajectory.»

Benchmark's price target on BABA is $180.

U.S.-listed shares