Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) released its FQ3 2018 earnings results before opening bell this morning. Alibaba earnings came in at $1.63 per share (RMB10.6 per share) on a non-GAAP basis, while revenue amounted to $12.76 billion (RMB83.03 billion). Analysts had been looking for non-GAAP earnings of $1.63 per share on $12.63 billion in sales.

Alibaba earnings still rising

On a GAAP basis, Alibaba earnings rose 33% year over year to $1.41 (RMB9.20) per share. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to $5.56 billion (RMB36.2 billion), while the adjusted EBITDA margin was 44%. The core commerce adjusted EBITA margin was 53% in FQ3 2018.

Alibaba’s core commerce revenue surged 57% year over year to $11.26 billion (RMB73.24 billion), while cloud computing revenue grew 104% to $553 million (RMB3.6 billion). Digital media and entertainment revenue grew 33% to $832 million (RMB5.4 billion), while innovation initiatives and other revenues fell 9% year over year to $119 million (RMB772 million).

The Chinese online retailer said it added 27 million annual active customers on its China retail marketplaces, bringing the total to 515 million. Alibaba added 31 million mobile monthly active users to its China retail marketplaces in December, bringing the total to 580 million between the end of September and the end of December.

Alibaba talks up New Retail momentum

Company management said they’ve accelerated their New Retail initiatives with five new Hema grocery stories during FQ3 2018.

“We are excited by the continued momentum in New Retail, which came to life during another record-breaking 11.11 Global Shopping Festival,” CEO Daniel Zhang said in a statement on Alibaba earnings. “We expanded the scale and footprint of our New Retail initiatives with the vision of delivering true convergence of the online and offline consumer experience through mobile and enterprise technology.”

Alibaba also said this morning that it has adjusted its revenue guidance to an increase of 55% to 56% for fiscal 2018. Previously, they had been expecting an increase of 49% to 53%.

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