Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has been underperforming since late 2020 when the IPO of Ant Group, its financial arm, was blocked after founder Jack Ma made disrespectful comments to Chinese financial officials.

Even as shares of the tech giant fell more than 70% from their peak, the stock continued to lag the market through the first half of 2023 as growth remained slow due to macroeconomic headwinds in China even as it ended its zero-COVID policy. A decision to break the company up into six different stand-alone entities also gave the stock a boost, but it wasn't enough to put the stock in positive territory.

As a result, the stock finished the first half of 2023 down 5%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, significantly lagging the S 500's gain of 15.9%.

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Source Fool.com