Baidu (BIDU); HK 9888

[winston]

not vested

Baidu beats estimates

Baidu (9888) saw its interim net profit drop slightly by 2.4 percent year-on-year to 9.42 billion yuan (HK$10.72 billion) for the first half of 2022, but the second quarter profit beat expectations.

Sales rose 4.3 percent to 29.6 billion yuan in the April-June period, just above the average analysts' forecast. But net income came to 3.6 billion yuan, surpassing the 2.2 billion yuan expected.

Baidu's Netflix-like video service iQiyi reported revenue a shade weaker than estimates. But it also unveiled improving margins and a deal to place US$500 million (HK$3.9 billion) of convertible notes with Hong Kong private equity firm PAG.

Source: Bloomberg

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section- ... -estimates

[winston]

not vested

Baidu Stock Slumps As U.S. Audit Risk Offsets Q2 Earnings Beat

Baidu delivered a smaller-than-expected drop in second quarter sales despite what CEO Robin Li described as "a challenging macro environment caused by Covid-19."

by MARTIN BACCARDAX

cloud sales offset persistent weakness in advertising.

Baidu posted third quarter earnings of 1.49 Chinese yuan per share, topping Street forecasts of 1.43, with sales falling 5.4% from last year to a Street-beating 29.65 billion yuan ($4.4 billion).

Revenues from the group's AI-powered Cloud division were up 31% from last year, Baidu said, while revenues at Baidu Core were down 4% to 23.2 billion.

Source: The Street

https://www.thestreet.com/markets/baidu ... ngs%2BBeat

[winston]

vested

Baidu Inc (9888 HK / BIDU US): <Earnings First Take> 2Q22 earnings above expectations thanks to cost optimisation [BUY, TP HKD 190.00 / BUY, TP USD 195.00]

Revenue decreased by 5% y-o-y to Rmb29.6bn in 2Q22, in line with market expectations

Non-GAAP net profit increased by 3% to Rmb5.5bn, above market expectations thanks to better-than-expected cost optimisation

Baidu AI Cloud business maintained strong growth momentum with 31% revenue growth

We currently rate BUY with TP of HK$190/US$195

Source: DBS

[winston]

not vested

Brokers│Views

Jefferies│core biz may track 2H positive growth

Citigroup│2Q total rev. in-line, profit beats

Goldman Sachs│2Q profit beats; ad recovery, cloud GP expansion favor 3Q result

UBS│core biz rev. ideal, margin strong

DBS│Covid resurgence casts shadow on profitability

BOCOMI│2Q result beats, sees 2H recovery trend

JPMorgan│2Q profit, GM beat

Nomura│2Q rev. in-line, tracks profit growth


Related News: G Sachs Trims BIDU-SW (09888.HK) TP to $202, Rating Buy

Source: AAStocks Financial News

[winston]

not vested

Baidu Inc (BIDU US) / (9888 HK) - Recovery in ads while making progress across newer initiatives

Baidu’s 2QFY22 results were broadly within expectations.

Total revenue fell 5% year-on-year (YoY) to CNY29.6b, broadly in-line with consensus.

Baidu core non-GAAP operating profit margins (OPM) was strong at 22.1 (approximately +5 percentage points (ppt) YoY).

Non-GAAP net income grew 3% YoY to CNY5.54b, or >60% above consensus – we attribute this to more modest levels of SG&A and R&D expenses vs expectations.

Management has shared that ad revenue has started to recover in June, which further improved into July.

On the assumption that the macro outlook improves, Baidu search should then stand to benefit, given that the latter is highly correlated with China’s GDP growth and performance of Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Encouragingly, we note that AI Cloud OPM has improved both YoY and quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), given management’s focus on high-quality revenue growth.

We also understand from management that the process of switching from its secondary listing to a primary one in HK should be straightforward and there are no foreseeable hurdles in achieving this.

As for Jidu, it is on track to take orders for its first passenger model later in 2022 with deliveries starting in 2023.

Looking forward, we believe that Baidu will continue to exercise cost discipline and push towards narrowing losses for its AI cloud business.

Following adjustments to our forecast, our FV drops from USD194 (BIDU US) / HKD188 (9888 HK) to USD181 (BIDU US) / HKD176 (9888 HK). BUY.

Source: OCBC

[winston]

vested

Baidu Inc (9888 HK)
Search Giant Transforming To Leader In AI+Smart Driving

Baidu ranked No. 1 in China’s AI cloud service industry in 2021 on the back of its
leading AI technologies, according to IDC.

We like Baidu’s unique position in the AI+cloud industry and its leading intelligent driving business unit, which are expected to unlock stock value in the medium to long term, along with a gradual recovery in Baidu's core advertising business.

Initiate coverage with BUY. Target price: HK$151.00.

Source: UOBKH

https://research.uobkayhian.com/content ... f2a89602f1

[winston]

vested

Baidu Posts Surprise Sales Gain as Investors Eye Turnaround

by Zheping Huang

Sales rose slightly to 32.5 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) in the September quarter, beating expectations for 31.8 billion yuan.

The company posted a net loss of 146 million yuan in the quarter just ended after taking a fair value loss several times that amount on its investments.

Source: Bloomberg

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/baidu-po ... 49695.html

[winston]

vested

Baidu sees surge in autonomous taxi usage, boding well for driverless technology in the world’s largest EV market

Last November, Baidu and Pony AI became the first two mainland firms to be allowed to charge passengers using their autonomous taxis

by Daniel Ren

Apollo Go robotaxi division completed 474,000 rides between July and September, compared to 287,000 rides recorded in the previous quarter.

The number of rides in the third quarter represented a year-on-year leap of 311 per cent.

Each autonomous taxi in the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou completed 15 rides per day.

Source: SCMP

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-bus ... -ev-market

[winston]

vested

Baidu Inc (9888 HK / BIDU US)

3Q22 non-GAAP net profit increased by 16%, above market expectations

Revenue increased by 2% y-o-y to Rmb33bn, slightly higher than market expectations

Non-online marketing revenue rose by 25% to Rmb7bn, driven by cloud and other AI-powered businesses.

Non-GAAP net profit increased by 16% to Rmb5.9bn, above market expectations thanks to stronger revenue growth and cost optimisation.

Do we expect its online market revenue growth momentum to improve further?

Source: DBS

[winston]

Baidu Robin Li Foresees Apollo Go to Generate Sizeable Profit by 2024

BIDU-SW (09888.HK) (BIDU.US)'s Apollo Go was anticipated to generate sizeable profit by 2024, said the group's founder, chairman and CEO Robin Li at the result press conference, as cited by Chinese media.

The company will further scale up the application of autonomous-driving technology and endeavor to reduce hardware and vehicle-production costs, Li added.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

http://www.aastocks.com/en/stocks/news/ ... t-news/HK6