遭SEC調查和大股東減持 阿里巴巴股票做空頭寸創新高

Traders have never been more bearish on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the fast-growing Chinese e-commerce company facing a probe by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and SoftBank share sale.

美國證券交易委員會的調查以及軟銀拋售阿里巴巴集團股票，使交易員們前所未有地對這家快速發展的中國電子商務巨頭看跌。

The total number of outstanding shares borrowed for short selling peaked at more than 124 million last week. That's the most since its 2014 initial public offering and is up from about 60 million in December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Markit Ltd.

上週，空頭借入進行賣空的阿里巴巴流通股總量達到了超過1.24億股的歷史峯值。彭博社和Markit Ltd彙總的數據顯示，這一做空數量達到2014年阿里巴巴首次公開募股以來的最高水平，遠高於去年12月時的約6000萬股。

Prominent short sellers including Jim Chanos and John Hempton have been red-flagging Alibaba for months, suggesting that its growth figures might be too good to be true.

著名空頭人士吉姆·查諾斯和約翰·漢普頓等人已經連續幾個月對阿里巴巴“舉紅旗”，認爲該公司的增長數據好到令人懷疑其真實性。

Bearish bets spiked in the past two weeks after the company disclosed a regulatory probe of its Chinese delivery unit and SoftBank Group Corp disclosed plans to sell a $10 billion stake.

隨着該公司披露其中國物流業務受到監管調查、軟銀披露其計劃減持100億美元股份，投資者對阿里巴巴的做空在過去兩週迅速增加。

"There's been an accumulation of factors making it more and more attractive for short sellers to target Alibaba, while the SEC investigation and SoftBank share sale added a lot of pressure," said Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc in Los Angeles, who has a neutral rating on the stock.

韋德布什證券公司的分析師吉爾·魯里亞表示，“各種因素的累計讓做空阿里巴巴變得更具吸引力，而SEC的調查和軟銀的減持更是雪上加霜。”

"If the SEC was to find Alibaba's accounting isn't proper and Alibaba has to restate its results, that'll be very detrimental. Because Alibaba's so high profile, it will cast an even greater shadow of Chinese companies listed in the US."

“如果SEC發現阿里巴巴會計賬目不準確、阿里巴巴被迫重估業績，那會非常糟糕。阿里巴巴如此知名，這事可能給在美上市中資企業投下更大的陰影。”

Alibaba, which claimed more than 75 percent of the e-commerce market share in the Chinese mainland last year, made history with a record $25 billion initial public offering in September 2014. Traders in New York clamored for the stock, which was priced at $68 a share, as a way to tap into the potential profits available from the country's growing middle class.

阿里巴巴2014年9月IPO融資250億美元，創下全球IPO新紀錄。該公司宣稱，2015年在中國電商市場佔有率超過75%。紐約的交易員們爭搶該公司股票，希望以此抓住中國不斷壯大的中產階級帶來的賺錢機會。

The shares have dropped 6.4 percent to $75.92 since May 25 when the company said that the SEC is looking at data reported from the company's Singles Day (Nov 11) promotion, Alibaba's biggest shopping day, and how the company consolidates results from affiliates, including logistics partner Cainiao Network.

自5月25日阿里巴巴宣佈SEC進行調查以來，其股價累計下跌了6.4%，至每股75.92美元。調查集中在該公司如何完成附屬企業，包括物流合作伙伴菜鳥網的並表操作，以及光棍節（“雙11”）促銷活動數據上。

While SoftBank's divestment comes as part of a broader strategy to find new investments in startups and strengthen its debt-heavy balance sheet, the move can be unsettling to investors as the Japanese technology giant first bought into the company 16 years ago, said Henry Guo, a New York-based analyst at M Science.

M Science駐紐約的分析師郭琪表示，“雖然軟銀的減持是其大戰略的一部分，爲的是增加在初創企業的投資、改善其負債沉重的資產負債表，但這一舉措讓投資者不安，因爲軟銀16年前就入股阿里巴巴了。”

But most analysts covering Alibaba remain bullish. 37 of them advise buying the stock, while six rate it hold, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has no sell ratings.

不過多數研究阿里巴巴集團的分析師依然看漲。根據彭博社彙編的數據，37位分析師建議“買入”該股，6位分析師給予該股“持有”評級，沒有分析師給出“賣出”評級。