How to buy Alibaba (BABA) shares in the UK

Learn how to easily invest in Alibaba shares.

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Alibaba Group Holding Limited
NYSE: BABA - USD
INTERNET RETAIL
$200.22
+$5.03 (+2.58%)
Fact checked

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) is a leading internet retail business based in China. It opened the day at $196.42 after a previous close of $195.19. During the day the price has varied from a low of $196.25 to a high of $202.07. The latest price was $200.22 (25 minute delay). Alibaba is listed on the NYSE and employs 251,462 staff. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in Alibaba

  1. Choose a platform. If you're a beginner, our share-dealing table below can help you choose.
  2. Open your account. You'll need your ID, bank details and national insurance number.
  3. Confirm your payment details. You'll need to fund your account with a bank transfer, debit card or credit card.
  4. Search the platform for stock code: BABA in this case.
  5. Research Alibaba shares. The platform should provide the latest information available.
  6. Buy your Alibaba shares. It's that simple.
The whole process can take as little as 15 minutes.

What's in this guide?

  1. Can I buy shares in Alibaba?
  2. Has coronavirus impacted Alibaba shares?
  3. Alibaba shares summary
  4. Compare share dealing platforms
  5. Is Alibaba stock a buy or sell?
  6. Performance over time
  7. Can I short Alibaba shares?
  8. Is Alibaba suitable for ethical investing?
  9. Are Alibaba shares over-valued?
  10. Financials
  11. How volatile are Alibaba shares?
  12. Does Alibaba pay a dividend?
  13. Other common questions

How has coronavirus impacted Alibaba's share price?

Since the stock market crash that started in February 2020, Alibaba's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was $219.02, which is 2.94% up on its pre-crash value of $212.59 and 28.87% up on the lowest point reached during the March 2020 crash when the shares fell as low as $169.95.

If you had bought $1,000 worth of Alibaba shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth $827.03 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth $1,027.20.

Alibaba share price (NYSE:BABA)

Use our graph to track the performance of BABA stocks over time.

Alibaba shares at a glance

Information last updated 2021-08-02.
Open$196.42
High$202.07
Low$196.25
Close$200.22
Previous close$195.19
Change$5.03
Change %2.577%
Volume17,499,726
Information last updated 2021-07-28.
52-week range$179.67 - $319.32
50-day moving average$212.2097
200-day moving average$230.4242
Wall St. target price$292.21
PE ratio23.2377
Dividend yieldN/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM)$8.435
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Invest in Alibaba shares with 0% commission

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  • Pay no stamp duty on UK shares (saving 0.5%)
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Fees for buying 5x Alibaba shares with popular platforms

Both exchange rates and share prices fluctuate in real time, so the costs presented here should be considered as a guide only. They do not incorporate stamp duty. Always refer to the platform itself for availability and pricing – which may differ from our information.

Platform Platform fee Min. initial deposit Trading fee estimate
eToro Free Stocks logo £0 $200 £3.60
£724.50 total
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Fineco logo £0 No minimum £7.21
£728.10 total
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Freetrade logo £0 No minimum £3.24
£724.14 total
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Degiro Share Dealing logo £0 £0.01 £1.16
£722.06 total
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Stake logo £0 £50 £3.62
£724.51 total
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Hargreaves Lansdown Fund and Share Account logo £0 £1 £19.17
£740.07 total
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interactive investor Trading Account logo £9.99 per month No minimum £18.82
£739.71 total
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Halifax Share Dealing Account logo £36 per year £20 £18.53
£739.42 total
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Full comparison of share dealing platforms

All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

Is it a good time to buy Alibaba stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Alibaba price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $200.22

1 month (2021-07-02) -8.05%
3 months (2021-05-03) -13.22%

Is Alibaba under- or over-valued?

Valuing a stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge value.

P/E ratio

Alibaba's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 23x. In other words, Alibaba shares trade at around 23x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

However, Alibaba's P/E ratio is best considered in relation to those of others within the internet retail industry or those of similar companies.

PEG ratio

Alibaba's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.8992. A PEG ratio over 1 can be interpreted as meaning shares are overvalued at the current rate of growth, or may anticipate an acceleration in growth.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Alibaba's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

However, it's sensible to consider Alibaba's PEG ratio in relation to those of similar companies.

EBITDA

Alibaba's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is a whopping $128.5 billion (£92.5 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Alibaba's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

To put that into context you can compare it against similar companies.

Financials

Revenue TTM $717.3 billion
Operating margin TTM 12.5%
Gross profit TTM $296.1 billion
Return on assets TTM 3.73%
Return on equity TTM 14.73%
Profit margin 20.99%
Book value $345.611
Market capitalisation $548.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

How to short and sell Alibaba shares

  1. Create a CFD or spread betting account.
  2. Search for the stock code. E.g. "BABA.US"
  3. Choose your position size.
  4. Select "sell" rather than "buy".
  5. Confirm your position and keep tabs on it. You may wish to set limits on your position.

There are currently 47.6 million Alibaba shares held short by investors – that's known as the "short interest". This figure is 1.8% up from 46.7 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Alibaba shares can be evaluated.

Short interest ratio (SIR)

Alibaba's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Alibaba shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Alibaba shares traded daily (recently around 15.3 million). Alibaba's SIR currently stands at 3.1. In other words for every 100,000 Alibaba shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3100 shares are currently held short.

To gain some more context, you can compare Alibaba's short interest ratio against those of similar companies.

However Alibaba's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Alibaba shares, or, against the total number of tradable Alibaba shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Alibaba's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Alibaba shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.0254% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Alibaba shares, roughly 25 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Alibaba.

Find out more about how you can short Alibaba stock.

Environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Alibaba.

Total ESG risk score

Alibaba's total ESG risk: 28.21

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Alibaba's overall score of 28.21 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 37th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Alibaba is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

To gain some more context, you can compare Alibaba's total ESG risk score against those of similar companies.

Environmental score

Alibaba's environmental score: 4.34/100

Alibaba's environmental score of 4.34 puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Alibaba is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Social score

Alibaba's social score: 15.2/100

Alibaba's social score of 15.2 puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Alibaba is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Governance score

Alibaba's governance score: 10.67/100

Alibaba's governance score puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Alibaba is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Controversy score

Alibaba's controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. A high-profile company, Alibaba scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Alibaba has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Wondering how that compares? Below are the controversy scores of similar companies.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Alibaba Group Holding Limited was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score 28.21
Total ESG percentile 36.84
Environmental score 4.34
Environmental score percentile 4
Social score 15.2
Social score percentile 4
Governance score 10.67
Governance score percentile 4
Level of controversy 2

Alibaba share dividends

We're not expecting Alibaba to pay a dividend over the next 12 months. However, you can browse other dividend-paying shares in our guide.

You may also wish to consider:

Share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Alibaba's shares have ranged in value from as little as $179.67 up to $319.32. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

BABA.US volatility(beta: 0.8)Avg. volatility(beta: 1.00)LowHigh

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Alibaba's is 0.8041. This would suggest that Alibaba's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

To put Alibaba's beta into context you can compare it against those of similar companies.

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