Baidu (BIDU), HK 9888; 02 (Nov 22 - Dec 26)

[winston]

not vested

<Research>CMBI Lifts Baidu (BIDU.US) TP to US$132, Rating Buy

BIDU-SW (09888.HK)'s 2Q25 core revenue fell by 2% YoY to RMB26.3 billion, slightly beating expectation, CMBI released a research report saying.

Non-GAAP core operating profit decreased by 37% YoY to RMB4.4 billion, but was 12% higher than anticipated.

Due to a more aggressive-than-expected business transformation plan, the recovery in advertising revenue growth may take longer than expected.

However, new initiatives such as Apollo Go and Baidu Cloud are steadily developing, and are expected to become long-term incremental drivers for revenue and profit growth.

Related News: BIDU-SW 2Q Non-GAAP NP Sinks 35.2% to RMB4.795B, In Line

Therefore, the broker lifted its target price from US$130.3 to US$132, with rating kept at Buy.

Source: AASTOCKS Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... -news/AAFN

[winston]

not vested

<Research>Daiwa Cuts BIDU-SW's TP to HKD92, Reiterates Outperform Rating

BIDU-SW (09888.HK), (BIDU.US) 2Q25 core operating profit beat market expectations by 9%, but its online marketing revenue declined by 15% YoY, according to Daiwa's research report.

In contrast, the company's non-online marketing revenue grew by 34% on intelligent cloud revenue.

Daiwa reduced its 2025-26 EPS for BIDU-SW by 1-3%.

It also dropped its target price from HKD93 to HKD92, with an Outperform rating reiterated.

Related News: CMBI Lifts Baidu (BIDU.US) TP to US$132, Rating Buy

Source: AAStocks Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... -news/AAFN

[winston]

not vested

Fitch Revises Down BIDU-SW Rating Outlook to Negative

Fitch Ratings revised the Outlook on BIDU-SW (09888.HK)'s Long-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) down to Negative, from Stable, and affirmed the IDRs at A.

Fitch also affirmed the foreign-currency senior unsecured rating at A.

Fitch stated that the negative outlook reflected the sequential slump in Baidu's core search business's market share in the online advertising sector, as it faced pressure from competing platforms.

Meanwhile, the business was challenged by the transition to AI search; and sustained EBITDA growth due to successful monetization of AI products would be key to retain an A rating.

Baidu's core EBITDA and EBITDA margin in 2025 and 2026 were expected to be notably below Fitch's previous expectations and also lower than the actual data from 2021-2024.

Furthermore, the weak profitability of iQIYI (IQ.US), in which Baidu holds a 45% stake, will continue to dampen Baidu's overall performance.

Source: AASTOCKS Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... -news/AAFN

[winston]

not vested

<Research>M Stanley Estimates Baidu (BIDU.US) 3Q OP to Slip 66.7% YoY, Maintains Equal-weight Rating

Morgan Stanley, in its report, forecast that Baidu (BIDU.US) will report core revenue of RMB24.6 billion for 3Q25, a YoY downfall of 7.3%.

Operating profit was expected to be RMB2.2 billion, a YoY slump of 66.7%.

The decrease in online marketing revenue by 20% was partially compensated by a 20% growth in AI cloud revenue.

The broker noted that Baidu's management focused on unlocking value through the success of AI services, optimizing the balance sheet and divesting undervalued assets.

The Equal-weight rating was maintained on Baidu with a target price of USD140, and Baidu's core revenue and operating profit forecasts for 2025-26 were tuned down by 2%.

Source: AASTOCKS Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... -news/AAFN

[winston]

not vested

<Research>G Sachs: BIDU-SW to Launch 2 New Chips in 2026, 2027; Wuhan Robotaxi Already Profitable

A research report by Goldman Sachs cited BIDU-SW (09888.HK) management as saying that the AI industry is transitioning towards a “Reverse Pyramid” structure, where AI models and applications should capture greater value.

The company indicated that capex will be directed towards areas that can drive large commercial value, particularly to B and to C applications.

Furthermore, the company has, for the first time, outlined a five-year plan for Kunlun chips, with two new chips set to be launched in early 2026 and early 2027 to meet both inference and training needs.

The Kunlun P800, launched last year, has already received orders from various customers.

Regarding Robotaxi, Baidu Apollo recently achieved 250,000 orders in a single week, and has accumulated 17 million passenger trips since its launch.

With profitability achieved in Wuhan, the company believed its Robotaxi business will continue to expand rapidly globally.

In terms of the search engine, currently, 70% of searches involve AI-generated content, particularly multimodal responses containing images and videos.

AI agents and digital humans have become highlights in the mobile ecosystem, achieving broad coverage within Baidu's ecosystem.

The broker set a target price of HKD150 for Baidu's Hong Kong shares and USD154 for its US shares, with a Buy rating.

Source: AASTOCKS Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... -news/AAFN

[winston]

not vested

<Results>BIDU-SW 3Q Non-GAAP NP Sinks 36% YoY to RMB3.77B, Beating Forecast; Baidu (BIDU.US) Rallies 2% Pre-Mkt

During the period, BIDU-SW recorded a net loss to Baidu of RMB11.232 billion, compared to a net income of RMB7.632 billion in the same period last year and the forecasted net income of RMB1.038-2.136 billion from four brokers as summarized by our reporters. It also logged diluted loss per ADS of RMB33.88.

BIDU-SW swung from profit to loss YoY in 3Q25, which the group attributed to the impairment loss of the core asset group. The impairment of long-lived assets reached around RMB16.2 billion during the period.

Under non-GAAP, BIDU-SW's 3Q25 net income to Baidu sank by 35.9% YoY to RMB3.77 billion, above the forecasted range of RMB1.831-3.116 billion from eight brokers as summarized by our reporters.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/analy ... stock-news

[winston]

not vested

Brokers│Views

Macquarie│AI business transparency continued to improve

Citi│3Q results beat market expectations

Jefferies│3Q results bottomed out, and AI-driven business fueled growth

UBS│New disclosures have enhanced visibility into AI potential

Goldman Sachs│AI business revenue remained robust, and profitability may have bottomed out

Nomura│Quarterly results weak, but better than low market expectations

JPMorgan│quarterly results mixed

Morgan Stanley│Advertising stayed weak, but AI revenue accelerated

Source: AAStocks Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... -news/AAFN

[behappyalways]

Baidu’s AI chip unit Kunlunxin confidentially files for Hong Kong IPO
https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/i ... g-kong-ipo

[winston]

not vested

<News alert> Baidu (9888 HK / BIDU US) – Kunlunxin confidential HK listing filed; Biren IPO pop a positive read-through

Baidu disclosed Kunlunxin has submitted a confidential HK listing application on 1 Jan 2026, and Kunlunxin is expected to remain a subsidiary post-listing.

Sentiment tailwind for China AI chips – President Xi highlighted “breakthroughs” in the R&D of China’s “own chips”, while Biren (6082 HK) as first GPU developer listing in HK – more than doubled its IPO price as of writing, providing a positive read-through to Baidu.

We remain positive on Baidu as a key beneficiary of domestic AI chip ecosystem build-out, with more disclosure on Kunlunxin IPO to catalyse further re-rating; maintain BUY with TP unchanged at HKD 175 / USD 177

Source: DBS

https://www.dbs.com/insightsdirect/comp ... ecid=29066

[winston]

not vested

<Research>Nomura Elevates Baidu (BIDU.US) TP to US$178 Amid Kunlunxin IPO Filing/ Div. Forecast

BIDU-SW (09888.HK) announced last Friday (2nd) that its chip subsidiary, Kunlunxin (KLX), has confidentially submitted an IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Nomura released a research report saying.

However, the timeline for completing the IPO has not been disclosed. Nomura estimated that Kunlunxin will complete its listing in 1H26.

The broker valued Kunlunxin at US$32 billion, equivalent to about 40% of CAMBRICON (688256.SH)corresponding to a projected 19x PS ratio for Kunlunxin in 2027, compared to the market's 24x valuation for CAMBRICON.

Nomura mentioned that BIDU-SW has proposed distributing cash to shareholders in several instances, apart from conducting buybacks, to attract long-term investors who value returns.

Nomura believed that completing Kunlunxin's IPO might be an ideal time for BIDU-SW to distribute cash dividends, supported by the proceeds from the partial reduction of its 69% stake in Kunlunxin.

Therefore, the broker kept rating at Buy on BIDU-SW's US stock, and elevated its target price from US$140 to US$178, due to its higher valuation for Kunlunxin and improved capital return prospects, removing a 30% discount on its US$22 billion cash.

Source: AASTOCKS Financial News

https://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news ... -news/AAFN