Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) — payout ratio, two ways
Fiscal year ending 2026-03-31 · sector Industrials · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
Free cash flow is not shown for this company. It cannot be computed from what this company files — the inputs are absent from its XBRL, not zero. The figure marked in the table is operating cash flow instead.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 31.8% | The figure most screeners publish. |
| Operating cash flow | 44.3% | Worse than the earnings figure, not better: operating cash flow absorbs working capital — inventory, receivables, payables — that earnings do not. |
No free cash flow figure is shown. This company does not report the inputs for it in its XBRL filings — capital expenditure, in particular, is often folded into a single investing total rather than tagged on its own. The figure is absent from the filings, not zero, and inventing one from a balance-sheet movement would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Spread between highest and lowest: 12 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 0 / 100 — Not covered. ? Peer standing · not rankedDirection 0/30Stability 0/20
Operating cash flow payout, last 3 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2026-03-31 | 44.3% |
| 2025-03-31 | 17.8% |
| 2024-03-31 | 9.8% |
Coverage has deteriorated three years running, 9.8% to 44.3%. Still covered, but moving the wrong way.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $0.25 ÷ diluted EPS $0.80
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $4,890.0m ÷ operating cash flow $11,049.0m
Where the figures came from
- 20-F filed 2026-05-20 · accession
0001193125-26-231755
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- DPS derived from dividends paid ($0.25); no per-share tag filed
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.