BABA vs TAL Stock Comparison
Compare BABA and TAL across AIQ Score, fundamentals, valuation, momentum, risk, analyst expectations and current market evidence.
What is the main difference between BABA and TAL?
TAL leads the current stock comparison as TAL Education Group, with the clearest separation coming from momentum and the broader AIQ evidence mix.
AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison
Alibaba Group Holding Limited vs TAL Education Group
TAL leads
TAL leads by 25 AIQ points, primarily on Momentum and Quality, and the lead has widened from 9 points over 30 sessions. Wall Street currently favors BABA on target upside.
Competitive: 4 of 6 evidence groups support TAL, its lead is widening, and its current signal state is conflicted.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
TAL Education Group
The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors TAL over BABA, 62 versus 37 as of Sep 11, 2026. TAL's advantage is driven primarily by stronger momentum and quality, while BABA holds the stronger risk resilience profile. TAL also shows the stronger technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average, though analyst target upside currently favors BABA. 4 of 6 covered evidence groups favor TAL today, and the comparison is rated Competitive on stability: the leader is throwing conflicting signals. TAL lead: Strengthening — the AIQ differential moved from 9 to 25 points over 30 sessions.
Compare Alibaba Group Holding Limited and TAL Education Group across the Algovestiq AIQ Score, valuation, quality, momentum, risk, technicals and analyst expectations.
Performance over time
Price-return comparison using available daily close history.
Total return comparison
Growth of $10,000
Based on available close-price history. Distribution reinvestment is not added unless already reflected in the source series.
Compare BABA and TAL against another ticker
Open a multi-ticker workspace without changing this focused pair page.
AIQ Factor Divergence
Where the two separate, on the four dimensions behind the AIQ Score. Bars read outward from a shared zero: further from the centre is a wider gap.
- Momentum20 vs 62TAL +42
- Quality50 vs 78TAL +28
- Value32 vs 55TAL +23
- Risk Resilience50 vs 44BABA +6
4 of 6 evidence groups favor TAL. TAL’s edge is concentrated in momentum and quality; BABA keeps a meaningful risk resilience edge.
What changed since the last close
Latest scored session 2026-09-10, compared against the prior scored session 2026-09-09.
Largest factor move: Risk Resilience +1
No new signals fired.
Largest factor move: Momentum +8
No new signals fired.
TAL's lead widened by 2 AIQ points in the latest snapshot.
Deeper signal detail for each name lives on its own signals page — BABA and TAL both carry a full feed there.
The central trade-off
TAL (TAL Education Group): the stronger current systematic profile, led by momentum and quality.
BABA (Alibaba Group Holding Limited): the counter-case, on risk resilience, analyst expectations.
The AIQ Score and Wall Street therefore point in different directions on this pair.
Which one fits your objective
The same two names rank differently depending on what you are optimizing for. All six reads are shown at once — none of them is hidden behind a toggle.
Balanced
TALTAL on the overall AIQ Score, which weights Quality and Value most heavily.
Growth
TALTAL on combined revenue and EPS growth.
Value
TALTAL on the peer-relative Value factor, by 23 points.
Momentum
TALTAL on the Momentum factor, by 42 points.
Lower downside
BABABABA on Risk Resilience, by 6 points.
Analyst upside
BABABABA on implied upside to the consensus price target.
AIQ vs Wall Street
The model and the Street disagree here: AIQ favors TAL, analyst targets favor BABA. That disagreement is the most useful thing on this page.
| Measure | BABA | TAL | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Implied upside to target | +68% | +15.2% | BABA has more room |
| Target dispersion | +26.7% | 0% | Lower is tighter analyst agreement |
| Consensus | Buy | Buy | Context, not a primary driver |
| Analysts covering | 6 | 1 | Higher coverage generally improves confidence |
The two are measuring different things. The AIQ Score reads current fundamentals, valuation, trend and risk; analyst targets price forward expectations. A divergence of this kind is either a contrarian opportunity or a sign the model is missing something already priced in — it is worth resolving before acting on either.
Analyst targets are expectations, not predictions. Dispersion matters as much as the midpoint.
AIQ Agreement Matrix
4 of 6 covered evidence groups favor TAL. A wide gap backed by one group is a weaker case than a narrow gap backed by five.
| Evidence group | Favors | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| AIQ Score | TAL | 37 vs 62 |
| Fundamentals | TALon balance | revenue growth 10.2% vs -6.1%; EPS growth -59.1% vs 64.4%; TTM ROE 7% vs 24.6%; gross margin 38.1% vs 56%; operating margin 4.2% vs 12.5% — TAL takes 4 of 5 decided legs, not all of them |
| Valuation | TAL | Value 32 vs 55 |
| Technicals | TAL | Price vs 50-day -6.6% vs 4.8%; vs 200-day -19.4% vs 4.5% |
| Risk Resilience | BABA | Risk Resilience 50 vs 44 |
| Analyst expectations | BABA | Target upside 68% vs 15.2% |
✓ agrees with the overall verdict · ✕ points the other way. Groups marked “not covered” lack data on one or both of BABA and TAL and are excluded from the count.
AIQ Decision Stability
The two are close enough that your objective, not the score, should decide.
- The AIQ gap is wide at 25 points. (supports the conclusion holding)
- The leader's advantage has been widening. (supports the conclusion holding)
- The leader is throwing conflicting signals. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
Stability combines the score gap, how broadly the evidence agrees, how steady the lead has been across daily snapshots, the current signal state on both names, and analyst dispersion on TAL.
How the comparison changed
119 daily snapshots · May 4 – Sep 10TAL lead: Strengthening — the AIQ differential moved from 9 to 25 points over 30 sessions.
- Today
- TAL +25
- 37 vs 62
- 7 sessions ago
- TAL +28
- 37 vs 65
- 30 sessions ago
- TAL +9
- 50 vs 59
- 90 sessions ago
- TAL +20
- 39 vs 59
The lead has not changed hands in this window.
AIQ Signal Divergence
Only the signals that bear on the head-to-head. A conflicted name is carrying bullish and bearish rules at the same time — the technical evidence is not pointing one way.
1 bullish / 4 bearish, conflicted
- Death Cross Active — bearish, trend, long horizon (15.12%)
- Keltner Channel Breakdown — bearish, volatility, short horizon
- RSI Oversold - Potential Bounce — bullish, momentum, short horizon
3 bullish / 1 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted
- Golden Cross Active — bullish, trend, long horizon (2.39%)
- Bollinger Band Squeeze — neutral, volatility, short horizon
- EMA Ribbon Expansion Bullish — bullish, trend, medium horizon
TAL leads the comparison while carrying a conflicted signal state, which is one reason the stability rating is not higher.
Price vs model alignment
Whether the latest session's price move confirms what the model did over the same session, or contradicts it.
Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price +0.68%, AIQ 0 points).
Price and the AIQ Score both moved up over the latest session (price +2.7%, AIQ +2 points).
What would flip this result
A state, not a forecast. These are the specific, observable changes that would reverse the verdict — not a price prediction.
- 1BABA closes the Momentum gap — currently 42 points behind, the largest single contributor to TAL's edge.
- 2BABA's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it.
- 3TAL's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 3 bullish and 1 bearish rules at once.
- 4A regime shift changes factor weighting — Quality and Value carry the heaviest weights in the composite, so a rotation toward either would move the result most.
The full evidence
Every number behind the verdict. The leader is called above each group so you are not left to solve it from the table.
Fundamentals
TAL leads on balance| Metric | BABA | TAL |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 10.2% | -6.1% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -59.1% | 64.4% |
| Gross margin | 38.1% | 56% |
| Operating margin | 4.2% | 12.5% |
| Return on equity (TTM) | 7% | 24.6% |
| Debt to equity | 0.25 | 0.1 |
Performance
TAL leads 5 of 6 windows| Metric | BABA | TAL |
|---|---|---|
| 1 week (5 sessions) | -2.9% | -5.2% |
| 1 month (20 sessions) | -13.3% | -3.1% |
| 3 months (63 sessions) | -5.9% | 23.7% |
| 6 months (126 sessions) | -20.3% | 4.5% |
| Year to date | -25.9% | 5.4% |
| 1 year (252 sessions) | -21% | 10.8% |
Technicals
TAL has the stronger structure| Metric | BABA | TAL |
|---|---|---|
| RSI (14) | 16.4 | 50.5 |
| ADX (14) | 21.7 | 21.6 |
| Price vs 50-day | -6.6% | 4.8% |
| Price vs 200-day | -19.4% | 4.5% |
| Volatility (1M, annualized) | 41% | 39.7% |
Risk
BABA is the more resilient| Metric | BABA | TAL |
|---|---|---|
| Beta | 1.27 | 0.77 |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.58 | 0.31 |
| Sortino ratio | -1.05 | 0.58 |
| Max drawdown | -49.9% | -30.7% |
| Current drawdown | -42.7% | -10.9% |
| Annualized volatility | 43.4% | 45.8% |
| Value at risk (95%) | -3.6% | -3.7% |
Straight answers
Each answer is regenerated from the current snapshot, not written once and left to age.
Which is better, BABA or TAL?
On the Algovestiq AIQ Score, TAL is the stronger of the two as of Sep 11, 2026, scoring 62 against BABA's 37. The edge comes from momentum and quality. BABA is not without a case — it holds the better risk resilience profile, which matters more if that is the objective you are optimizing for. This is a systematic score, not a recommendation: it ranks the two on the same evidence, it does not know your holding period or tax position.
Is BABA or TAL the better buy right now?
TAL carries the stronger systematic profile as of Sep 11, 2026, and the comparison is rated Competitive — 4 of 6 covered evidence groups agree. A Competitive rating means the two are close enough that your objective, not the score, should decide.
Why does the AIQ Score favor TAL over BABA?
The composite weights Quality, Value, Momentum and Risk Resilience. TAL leads Momentum by 42 points; TAL leads Quality by 28 points; TAL leads Value by 23 points. Where the two split, the factor with the larger weight carries the result.
Which has more analyst upside, BABA or TAL?
Analyst price targets imply +68% upside for BABA and +15.2% for TAL, so the Street currently favors BABA. That points the opposite way to the AIQ Score, which favors TAL. The two are measuring different things: the model reads current fundamentals, valuation, trend and risk; the Street is pricing forward expectations. A divergence of this kind is either a contrarian opportunity or a sign the model is missing something the analysts have already priced — it is the single most useful row on this page to investigate. Analyst targets are expectations, not predictions, and dispersion matters as much as the midpoint.
Which is better value, BABA or TAL?
TAL is the better-valued of the two on the peer-relative Value factor. TAL on the peer-relative Value factor, by 23 points. The Value factor reads valuation relative to sector peers and to the company's own fundamental quality, so it is not the same as simply having the lower multiple.
Which has stronger growth, BABA or TAL?
TAL on combined revenue and EPS growth. Growth here is measured on reported revenue and earnings, not on forward estimates — it describes what the businesses have delivered, not what the Street expects next.
Which has stronger momentum, BABA or TAL?
TAL on the Momentum factor, by 42 points. Momentum is one of the four weighted factors in the AIQ composite. It has documented persistence over three- to twelve-month horizons, which makes it a timing input rather than a reason to hold something indefinitely.
Which is riskier, BABA or TAL?
BABA is the more resilient of the two, so the other name carries the higher downside risk. BABA on Risk Resilience, by 6 points. Risk Resilience is a weighted factor in the composite; position sizing usually responds to it more usefully than the buy/avoid decision does.
Is BABA more profitable than TAL?
TAL leads on the comparable margin measures — gross margin 38.1% vs 56%; operating margin 4.2% vs 12.5%; ttm roe 7% vs 24.6%.
Is TAL's lead over BABA getting stronger or weaker?
TAL lead: Strengthening — the AIQ differential moved from 9 to 25 points over 30 sessions. This is measured from 119 daily comparison snapshots between 2026-05-04 and 2026-09-10. The lead has not changed hands in that window.
What would change the BABA vs TAL verdict?
The result is a state, not a forecast, so it changes when the underlying evidence changes. Concretely: BABA closes the Momentum gap — currently 42 points behind, the largest single contributor to TAL's edge; BABA's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it; TAL's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 3 bullish and 1 bearish rules at once; a regime shift changes factor weighting — Quality and Value carry the heaviest weights in the composite, so a rotation toward either would move the result most.
What do the current signals say about BABA and TAL?
BABA: 1 bullish / 4 bearish, conflicted. TAL: 3 bullish / 1 bearish / 2 neutral, conflicted. A conflicted state means bullish and bearish rules are active on the same name at once — the technical evidence is not pointing one way, and a decision taken on it carries more timing risk. The most decision-relevant rule on BABA is Death Cross Active (bearish, long horizon). On TAL it is Golden Cross Active (bullish, long horizon).
Compare BABA and TAL with others
Continue your research
This page answers which of the two. These answer the questions on either side of it.
How this comparison is scored
The Algovestiq AIQ Score composites four factors — Quality, Value, Momentum and Risk, each carrying a fixed weight. Sentiment is reported separately as SentimentPulse and is not folded into the composite. Scores refresh every trading day, and this page regenerates from the latest snapshot rather than being written once.
The verdict names a leader, states how broadly six independent evidence groups agree, and rates how durable that conclusion is given the score gap, its recent trajectory and the current signal state on both names.
How to use side-by-side comparison →This comparison is informational and educational, not investment advice. AIQ scores update daily; re-check after earnings, guidance or macro data that materially changes either name’s factor profile.