Alibaba's profit report sends shares tumbling

Shares of Alibaba tumbled more than 10 percent in Friday morning trading in Hong Kong, after the e-commerce giant reported lower-than-expected profits and turned down its growth forecast.

For the quarter ended Sept 30, the company posted 11.2 yuan ($1.75) in earnings per share on an adjusted basis, missing analysts' estimate of 12.36 yuan polled by Bloomberg.

Revenue also recorded the mildest surge of 29 percent, to 200.7 billion yuan.

Alibaba expected revenue for the year ending in March 2022 to rise 20 percent to 23 percent, down from a 29.5 percent forecast in May and the slowest rate since its initial public offering in 2014.

In a conference call with analysts, chairman Danial Zhang cited "economic headwinds, intensifying market competition" as key factors affecting the core commerce business in China.

Other business units continued robust momentum. Based on Alibaba's one-third stake in financial arm Ant Group, the company had an estimated 19.7 billion yuan in net profits in the quarter ended June 30, up 39 percent year-on-year. Ant's earnings lag one quarter behind Alibaba's.

Cainiao Network, its logistics arm, continues to expand its global infrastructure by strengthening its end-to-end logistics capabilities, such as international freight service and last-mile delivery service. As of September, Cainiao operated over 3 million square meters of warehouses dedicated to cross-border business.

Alibaba's cloud business also posted a strong 33 percent growth from a year ago.