Alibaba drops second straight day

Alibaba’s shares dropped about 9 percent on Thursday after the Chinese e-commerce powerhouse reported holiday-quarter revenue that surged 40 percent but missed analyst expectations. It was the second day of stock decline following news Wednesday that the Chinese government had issued a report critical about Alibaba’s efforts to deal with counterfeiting. The two-day decline has shaved about $38 billion off the company’s previous $264 billion market capitalization and is making some wonder if the bloom is off the rose for investors, who had clamored to buy the stock in September when Alibaba went public in the biggest IPO ever. Alibaba closed at $89.81 Thursday, down $8.64. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt said the honeymoon period was ending and cut his rating to “Hold” from “Buy” based on increased risk of clashes with the Chinese government and lower revenue expectations.