The smart money got this one right. Alibaba shares are surging Thursday as the Asian e-commerce giant reported better than expected earnings results.

Some of the biggest names in hedge funds bought Alibaba shares in the June quarter, according to required 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the June quarter.

The company reported fiscal first quarter sales of 50.2 billion Chinese yuan compared to the 47.7 billion yuan Wall Street consensus, according to FactSet. Earnings for the quarter also came in better than expected at 7.95 yuan versus the 6.24 yuan estimate.

The company’s shares rose 5.5 percent in the premarket session Thursday. If the stock opens at this level, it will be a new all-time high for Alibaba shares.

David Tepper’s Appaloosa disclosed a 3.7 million stake in shares of Alibaba and Dan Loeb’s Third Point also bought 4.5 million shares in the second quarter, according 13F filings.

“We believe that Alibaba is among the best business models in the global internet sector, and is the clear winner in the consolidated Chinese e-commerce market,” Loeb wrote in an investor letter to clients on July 26.

Stan Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Capital and Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management also revealed new stakes of 710,000 shares and 214,000 shares, respectively, in Alibaba, according to filings on Monday.

The internet firm is one of the market’s best-performing names this year as its shares have rallied 81.6 percent year to date through Wednesday versus the S&P 500’s 10.2 percent return.

— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this story.