Alibaba shares soar with strong quarterly revenue

NEW YORK (AA) – Shares of Alibaba soared more than 6 percent Wednesday after the company announced strong quarterly revenue.

Revenues at the Alibaba Group increased to $4.8 billion for the quarter that ended June 30, marking a 59 percent rise from the same period a year ago.

It is the highest revenue growth since the Chinese e-commerce company first went public in September 2014.

Sales also reached $3.5 billion, rising 49 percent.

From total sales, $2.6 billion, or 74 percent, came from mobile devices – an increase of 119 percent year-on-year.

While mobile monthly average users reached 427 million in the second quarter, rising 39 percent year-over-year, annual active buyers rose to 434 million, or 18 percent.

“The acceleration of our revenue growth reflects the deep value propositions that we bring to our customers," Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, said in a statement. "We are poised for strong profitable growth into the future.”

After the strong quarterly results beat market expectations, stock value of Alibaba reached as high as $92.77, marking a 6.2 percent increase from the previous close of $87.33 per share shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street.

With the rise in share value, the company's market capitalization climbed to a little more than $230 billion.

The company gathered $21.8 billion in September 2014 -- the largest initial public offering in the U.S. history.