Stellar Q3 makes Alibaba upbeat before Singles Day

An upbeat Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will hold its famed annual Singles Day online shopping festival on Nov 11, having posted its fastest quarterly (July-September) sales growth since its record initial public offering in 2014.

Sales surged by 61 percent year-on-year, a historical high, to $8.29 billion, yielding a profit of $2.62 billion, more than double that in the same period last year.

Promptly, the $473 billion e-commerce behemoth, which is based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, raised its outlook for full-year growth, saying it expects sales to grow by 49-53 percent, up from the previous forecast of 45-49 percent.