Despite Price Dip, Wall Street Still Likes Alibaba Group Holding Inc.

Despite losses of 23 percent so far this year, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

remains a Wall Street darling. Analysts on average rate the Chinese Internet giant a Buy, with an average price target of $106.97 a share. Alibaba, set to post first-quarter earnings Thursday, changed hands recently at $79.38, off $1.22 and near an all-time low. The company closed on its first day of trading in September at $93.89 a share in a $25 billion initial public offering. Among 39 analysts polled by FactSet, 34 rate Alibaba at Buy, three are at Hold and two are at Overweight. Wall Street expects the company will post adjusted first-quarter earnings of $0.42 cents a share, on revenue of $2.78 billion. Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma last week reportedly imposed a hiring freeze and warned that the company has grown too rapidly. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/29/us-alibaba-workers-idUSKBN0NK0Z520150429 Baidu Inc.

, the Chinese Internet search provider, last week missed quarterly expectations on slowing revenue growth and a decline in profits.