NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A lock-up of Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Report U.S. shares is set to expire tomorrow, enabling early investors the opportunity to sell 337M of the company's shares, or about 14% of its publicly traded stock, for the first time. This morning, research firm Stifel upgraded the stock to Buy, citing reduced regulatory risk and enhanced monetization trends.

WHAT'S NEW: About 337M shares of Alibaba's stock will become available for sale tomorrow as a 180-day lock-up related to the company's IPO expires. Lock-up agreements, a typical feature of company stock offerings, prevent certain shareholders from selling for a set amount of time after the offering. Earlier today, Stifel analyst Scott Devitt upgraded Alibaba to Buy from Hold. After a Chinese regulator alleged that many of the products sold on Alibaba's marketplace were inauthentic, the headline risk facing the company has subsided because it has begun taking stronger measures to combat counterfeit products, according to Devitt. At current levels the stock reflects the regulatory risk the company is facing, the analyst added. Devitt believes that recent investments by Alibaba will accelerate the company's monetization trends and the experience of its customers over the longer term. He set a $99 price target on the shares.

WHAT'S NOTABLE: Research firm William Blair upgraded the shares of another Chinese e-commerce company, JD.com (JD) - Get Report, to Outperform from Market Perform in a note to investors earlier today. As reasons for the upgrade, the firm cited increased confidence that the company can increase its market share further and its belief that the company's platform is becoming more appealing while its market reach is expanding. The Chinese government's increased scrutiny of Alibaba could also be boosting JD.com, the analyst stated. The firm noted that gross merchandise volume growth trends for JD.com accelerated throughout the quarters of 2014, which is in contrast to Alibaba.

PRICE ACTION: In early trading, Alibaba rose 0.5% to $84.38, while JD.com gained 1% to $28.

Reporting by Larry Ramer.

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