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

[winston]

vested

China's Baidu beats quarterly revenue estimates on ad strength

By Eduardo Baptista & Yuvraj Malik

Revenue rose 10% to 31.14 billion yuan (US$4.54 billion) in the quarter ended March 31, surpassing analysts' estimates of 29.97 billion yuan,

Revenue from Baidu Core, which includes search-based ad sales, cloud offerings and its autonomous driving initiatives, grew 8% to 23 billion yuan.

Source: Reuters

https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/667201

[winston]

vested

Baidu fortunes turn around

by Himo Liu

Baidu (9888) reported a net profit of 5.83 billion yuan (HK$6.56 billion) in the first quarter of this year, marking a significant turnaround from the net loss of 885 million yuan in the same period last year, and the adjusted net profit witnessed a 48 percent increase, reaching 5.73 billion yuan.

During the same period, Baidu's total revenues reached 31.1 billion yuan - a 10 percent year-on-year increase.

Within this, revenue from Baidu's core business amounted to 23 billion yuan, showing an 8 percent year-on-year growth.

Baidu's online video platform, iQiyi , generated a revenue of 8.3 billion yuan, up 15 percent from a year ago.

During the quarter, iQiyi reported an average daily subscribing member count of 129 million. This is a notable increase compared to 101 million in the first quarter of 2022 and 112 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Baidu's online video platform, iQiyi , generated a revenue of 8.3 billion yuan, up 15 percent from a year ago.

During the quarter, iQiyi reported an average daily subscribing member count of 129 million. This is a notable increase compared to 101 million in the first quarter of 2022 and 112 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service, Apollo Go, recorded about 660,000 rides during the January-March period. This represents a 236 percent rise compared to the same period in the previous year and a quarter-on-quarter growth of 18 percent.

Source: The Standard

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section- ... urn-around

[winston]

vested

Baidu Inc (9888 HK)
1Q23: Solid Ad And Cloud Recovery; Strong Earnings Beat; Generative AI As Key Focus

Baidu’s 1Q23 earnings came in better than expectations.

Revenue grew 10% yoy to Rmb31b, 3.8% above the street’s estimate.

Gross margin expanded 6ppt yoy to 51%, beating consensus expectation.

Non-GAAP operating profit was Rmb6.4b, up 61% yoy, while non-GAAP operating profit margin came in at 21%, better than our estimate.

NonGAAP net profit improved by 48% yoy to Rmb5.7b through operating leverage, 32%
above consensus estimate.

Maintain BUY. Target price: HK$187.00 (US$193.00).

Source: UOBKH

https://research.uobkayhian.com/content ... 556e7004fa

[winston]

vested

Brokers│Views

BofA Securities│Cloud business turned profitable

Daiwa│Ad business recovery as expected; AI cloud business logged positive operating gross profit

Jefferies│Ad business recovered; Ernie Bot viewed as long-term investment theme

BOC International│Quarterly results decent

CMB International│Cloud business turned profitable

UOB Kay Hian│1Q23 ad and cloud businesses showed solid recovery

Citigroup│1Q23 total revenue and net profit saw solid growth with estimate-beating core revenue and profit

UBS│1Q23 revenue and profit both beat forecasts

JPMorgan│1Q23 revenue ahead of forecast; profit margins far ahead of estimates on the back of continued cost optimization

CLSA│2023-24E adjusted earnings ramped up by 8%/ 4%

Goldman Sachs│1Q23 earnings robust; projected recovery in ad revenue in 2Q to drive solid profit margins

CICC│AI cloud business first turned profitable, unlocking vast room for profit growth

BOCOM International │Quarterly results beat with accelerated recovery for ad business

HSBC Global Research│Profit margin uptick driven by recovery of smart cloud and ad businesses

Haitong International│1Q23 recovery within expectations

Morgan Stanley│Core ad and cloud businesses anticipated to quicken in 2Q23

Nomura│Ad business expected to further recuperate in 2Q23

Source: AAStocks Financial News

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

[winston]

vested

Baidu Inc (9888 HK / BIDU US) - 1Q23 earnings beat, positive operating momentum into 2Q23

We are positive on Baidu’s outlook, seeing several tailwinds for the company in FY23:-
(i) post-Covid economic recovery benefiting Baidu’s advertising verticals,
(ii) relatively low revenue base in FY22 and low expectations for FY23 revenue growth,
(iii) upside to earnings on monetisation of ERNIE bot, and
(iv) relatively more attractive (lower) valuations compared to peers.

We believe Baidu is uniquely positioned to benefit directly from the growing demand for generative AI technologies, by having significant exposure to both digital advertising and cloud infrastructure and computing businesses. BUY.

Source: OCBC

[winston]

vested

Baidu Shares Jump as Ernie Bot Progress Rekindles AI Bets

by Jeanny Yu

Will soon launch a new version of the large-language model powering its ChatGPT-style service.

Large-language models will give birth to AI-native applications. “Baidu will become the first company to rework all of its products. It’s not about integrating or accessing AI. It’s about rework and restructuring.”

Ernie Bot is currently only available to selected users.

Chinese regulators have said that any generative AI services would need their approval before rolling out in the world’s largest internet arena.

Source: Bloomberg

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/baidu-sh ... 34738.html

[winston]

vested

Shares closed higher above the 200dEMA, with a surge in volume.

5dEMA just crossed the 20dEMA.

MACD is positive, RSI is constructive.

Long – Entry 129, Target 145, Stop 121

Source: KGI

[winston]

vested

BIDU-SW 'Ernie Bot-Turbo' High-performance Mode Records 50x Improved Overall Performance

BIDU-SW (09888.HK) Vice President Hou Zhenyu revealed that the "Ernie Bot-Turbo" high-performance model is officially open for testing, and enterprises can now apply for testing on the Ernie Qianfan foundation model platform.

He noted that the inference performance of Ernie Bot has improved nearly 10 times in two months of internal testing.

In some high-frequency core scenarios, Ernie Bot-Turbo has improved the overall performance of inference services by 50 times while meeting the same customer requirements, which helps improve the effectiveness and efficiency of enterprises' model usage.

He revealed that since the launch of the internal test, Ernie Bot has received over 150,000 applications from customers and partners.

More than 300 ecological partners have participated in the internal test, and achieved test results in over 400 specific scenarios, such as office efficiency, knowledge management, smart customer service, and intelligent marketing.

Source: AAStocks Financial News

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

[winston]

not vested

BIDU(9888)

Analysis：

In the first quarter of 2023, Baidu (9888) Core delivered a solid performance, with year-on-year revenue growth accelerating from previous quarters, supporting operating margin improvement through operating leverage.

Total revenues were RMB31.1 billion, increasing 10% year over year.

Revenue from Baidu Core was RMB23 billion, increasing 8% year over year. Among which, online marketing revenue was RMB16.6 billion, up 6% year over year, and non-online marketing revenue was RMB6.4 billion, up 11% year over year.

Revenue from iQIYI was RMB8.3 billion ($1.22 billion), increasing 15% year over year. Operating income was RMB4.98 billion, up 91% year over year and up 8% quarter over quarter.

Baidu Core operating income was RMB4.091 billion, up 62% year over year and up 8% quarter over quarter.

Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB5.825 billion as compared to net loss of RMB885 million in the same period last year.

Adjusted EBITDA was RMB8.145 billion, up 48% year over year and adjusted EBITDA margin was 26%, up 7 percentage points year over year and up 1 percentage point quarter over quarte.

The emergence of generative AI and large language model presents a transformative potential of AI in various industries, to help people and organizations to achieve more.

In light of this trend, Baidu has introduced its ERNIE Bot in China, which it plans to steadily incorporate into all its businesses.

This will empower its products and offerings, drawing in a larger user and customer base, while allowing it to establish a new ecosystem around the ERNIE Bot for the new era. It will also enable the Group to drive long-term, sustainable growth. (I do not hold the above stock)

Strategy：
Buy-in Price: $135, Target Price: $150, Cut Loss Price: $128

Source: Phillips

[winston]

not vested

Baidu wins commercial licence for driverless taxis in Shenzhen


By Josh Ye

HONG KONG (June 16): China's tech firm Baidu Inc said on Friday (June 16) that it has obtained a commercial licence from regulators for its driverless ride-hailing service in parts of Shenzhen, the country's tech hub.

Its fleet of driverless robotaxis, under the brand Apollo Go, will be allowed to operate and collect fares from passengers across an area of 188 square km (116.82 square miles) in Shenzhen, the company said.

Baidu has obtained licences from three other Chinese cities including Wuhan, Chongqing and Beijing, to offer fully driverless service there. But in Beijing, the company is still waiting for a commercial licence.

Baidu also said it plans to put an additional 200 fully driverless robotaxis on the road this year.

Source: Reuters

https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/671512