Analyst Says Alibaba (BABA) the 'Cheapest Way to Play AI in the Entire World'

We recently published 10 Buzzing Tech and AI Stocks Everyone’s Talking About. Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) is one of the stocks analysts were recently talking about.

Thomas Hayes from Great Hill Capital said in a latest program on Schwab Network that Alibaba is the “cheapest” way to play AI “in the entire world.” Here is why the analyst is bullish on the stock:

“We started buying this over $100. It dropped to $60. We pounded the table while all the sell sides were saying China is uninvestable, and all we saw was $25 billion of free cash flow and $80 billion on the balance sheet. Number one, China middle-class e-commerce retailer; number one in cloud; and the cheapest way to play AI in the world. We brought our basis down to $82. It’s a $175 stock right now, and it’s going a lot higher. This story hasn’t even begun—they just launched Qwen 3.0 Max, which is the large language model with 1 trillion parameters. I’m telling you, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE:BABA) is the cheapest way to play AI in the entire world.”

Conventum – Alluvium Global Fund stated the following regarding Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was down 12.8%. Bear in mind, this comes off a stunning 55.3% March quarter return. Alibaba reported full year results, and by all accounts they were pretty good. Market chatter suggests some were disappointed by the Cloud revenue, but with 18% growth over the last year, we are not complaining. We liked the continuation of share buybacks, noting that for the year ended 31 March 2025, it bought back over 5% of its shares. Our Alibaba holding accounts for 3.3% of the Fund. We wrote last quarter that we were closely monitoring the position (hinting toward selling). We chose not to act, largely because we see it as one of the cheaper and most direct ways for the Fund to benefit from AI initiatives and Cloud infrastructure growth, and at the same time it provides geographic and economic diversity.”

While we acknowledge the potential of BABA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.