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