Loomis Sayles, an investment management company, released its “Global Growth Fund” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund returned -3.35% compared to -1.32% for the MSCI ACWI Net Index. Stock selection in consumer staples, communication services, and healthcare sectors, and allocations to the information technology and healthcare sectors positively impacted the fund’s relative performance. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Loomis Sayles Global Growth Fund highlighted stocks such as Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA). Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) provides technology infrastructure and marketing reach. The one-month return of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was 1.99%, and its shares gained 48.57% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 23, 2025, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) stock closed at $120.73 per share with a market capitalization of $288.022 billion.
Loomis Sayles Global Growth Fund stated the following regarding Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is a leading China e-commerce and consumer-engagement platform provider, operating several businesses across commerce, technology, advertising, digital media and entertainment, logistics, payments, and local services. With over 40% of China’s e-commerce transactions estimated to take place through its Taobao and Tmall marketplaces, we believe Alibaba’s scale and brand would be difficult-to-replicate.
A fund holding since inception, Alibaba reported quarterly financial results that were fundamentally solid and better than consensus expectations for revenue, operating income, and earnings per share. For the quarter, revenue growth of 8% year over year was driven by improved growth in both its commerce customer management revenue at Taobao and Tmall and its cloud business, as well as continued strong growth within the company’s international commerce retail business. Taobao and Tmall represented 49% of total revenue and grew 5% year over year, with customer management revenue growth accelerating to 9%, benefitting from gross merchandise volume (GMV) growth and an improved take rate. T he company’s cloud business represented 11% of revenue and accelerated to 13% revenue growth – and the company highlighted triple-digit growth in AI-related revenue for the 6th consecutive quarter. The company’s international commerce business represented 13% of revenues and grew 32% year over year, benefiting from strong growth of its cross border business. Cainiao Smart Logistics Network represented 10% of revenue and declined by 1% year over year due in part to restructuring within the business. Alibaba’s local services group represented 6% of revenue and grew 12% year over year, benefiting from order growth of Amap and Ele.me and revenue from marketing services. In its digital media and entertainment group (2% of revenue), Alibaba grew its revenue by 8%, benefiting from an increase in Youku’s advertising revenue. In Alibaba’s “all others” segment, which represented 19% of revenue, sales increased by 13% year over year, driven by growth in its retail businesses including Freshippo and Alibaba Health.…” (Click here to read the full text)
An e-commerce platform displaying a wide range of products to customers online.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is in 17th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 125 hedge fund portfolios held Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) at the end of the first quarter, which was 107 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains.
In another article, we covered Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) and shared Jim Cramer’s successful stock predictions. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
