It’s safe to say that Cathie Wood has built her illustrious investing career by betting when others hesitate.
The ARK Invest founder has made a name for herself by backing electric vehicle giant Tesla before it became mainstream, Coinbase during the darkest days of cryptocurrencies, and high-risk software and genomics when the consensus said otherwise.
Additionally, what sets it apart is its daily trading disclosures, which provide the kind of transparency that fuels a self-reinforcing cycle, driving liquidity into growth names in a matter of hours.
Now, in that same maverick spirit, Wood is doubling down on arguably the most surprising tech comeback stories of 2025 at Alibaba.
For perspective, Alibaba’s rally this year is based on three visible pillars.
The first is its huge commitment of 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) through 2028 in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure, positioning it among the major industrial-scale data players.
Additionally, its powerful Cloud division continues to expand globally, launching new data centers in Brazil, France, the Netherlands and Dubai, and spreading its tentacles internationally.
Second, Alibaba demonstrated capital discipline by withdrawing $11.9 billion of shares in fiscal 2025, reducing its share count by 5% while simplifying its operating structure to four core groups for faster execution.
And finally, there is momentum.
In its June quarter, cloud revenue rose 26% year-over-year to 33.4 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), beating estimates, and sales of AI products rose triple digits for seven consecutive quarters. Additionally, Quick Commerce, now targeting 1 trillion yuan in incremental GMV, adds another huge catalyst for long-term growth.
As a result, after years of regulatory overreach and bearishness, Alibaba’s 2025 playbook looks more like a reinvention than a recovery.
And with Wood’s backing, the smart money will come.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest continues to add to its bet on Alibaba.Image source: Marco Bello/Stringer/Getty Images
Cathie Wood appears to be betting on Alibaba’s powerful rebound.
On October 15, the founder of ARK Invest just acquired another 12.3 million dollars in Alibaba shares in its ARK Innovation, Next Generation Internet and Fintech Innovation ETFs.
The move adds to what has been a steady buying streak at the Chinese e-commerce giant, which continues to bet big on the cloud and artificial intelligence.
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In end of September 2025ARK re-entered Alibaba for the first time since 2021acquiring shares worth almost 16.3 million dollars in multiple funds.
That same week, he continued his shopping spree, buying 8.2 million dollars in ARKF and 8.1 million dollars at ARKW, thus boosting ARK’s technology exposure in China.
The shopping didn’t end there either. In early October, he added another 2.7 million dollars in new BABA stock.
Alibaba stock has been one of this year’s quiet recovery trades.
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The stock is up almost 100% year to date and 43% in the last three monthsled by strong consumer spending, cost management and early signs of traction in its cloud services and artificial intelligence.
For investors following Wood’s moves, the message is that she is fully committed to re-entering one of tech’s biggest comeback stories.
Cathie Wood acquired $12.3 million in Alibaba shares in three ARK ETFs on October 15.
Alibaba shares are up nearly 100% this yearled by AI and the power of the cloud.
Wood’s latest move extends steady buying streakunderscoring the long-term conviction in BABA stock.
Wall Street’s conviction in Alibaba is growing rapidly.
In October, several analysts reaffirmed their buy ratings and raised price targets on BABA shares, as the Chinese tech giant’s recovery accelerates.
Jefferies’ Thomas Chong praised Alibaba as his “top pick for 2026,” and reiterated a buy rating and $230 price target.
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It expects cloud sales to increase about 30% year over year, led by increased GPU adoption, more AI training, and healthier demand for custom business models.
When it comes to e-commerce, Chong believes there is improved synergy between core commerce and Quick Commerce, and projects a 10% expansion in customer management revenue (CMR) due to increased traffic, cross-selling and higher purchase frequency.
Goldman Sachs’ Ronald Keung echoes the same optimism, raising his target from $179 to $205, buoyed by excellent Alibaba Cloud expansion and healthier e-commerce gains. Keung estimates that Alibaba can invest approximately RMB 460 billion ($63 billion) between FY26 and FY28 in AI infrastructure, effectively narrowing the gap with global peers.
The valuation adds compelling appeal.
Alibaba shares currently trade at just 24x forward earnings, comfortably below Amazon and Microsoft (both trade at a PE ratio of 33x).
Similarly, BABA stock trades at a price-to-sales ratio of just 2.7 times, compared to Amazon’s 3.4 times and Microsoft’s 13.5 times. So, after a stellar 100% rally this year, Alibaba still looks undervalued as it continues to lead China’s tech rebound.
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This story was originally reported by TheStreet on October 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Technology section. Add TheStreet as a preferred source by clicking here.
