Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said that Alibaba appears on track to report year-over-year "Singles Day" growth in gross merchandise volume of about 20%, or 18% in U.S. dollars. While this level of growth represents a deceleration from last year's 27%, or 22% in U.S. dollars, it is also a "less drastic" slowdown than last year's compared to the 39% growth rate in 2017, pointed out Sebastian. He also notes that an increasing portion of this year's Singles Day growth is coming from lower tier cities, adding that he views the slowdown as reflective of Alibaba's increasingly large base. Sebastian keeps an Outperform rating on Alibaba shares with a $200 price target.