Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) shares came under pressure in early trading on Friday, despite the company's better-than-expected quarterly results.
The results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways.
Goldman Sachs On Baidu
Analyst Lincoln Kong maintained a Buy rating while cutting the price target from $161 to $153.
Baidu reported its first-quarter revenues in line with expectations but managed to deliver a beat on EBIT and net profit, Kong said in a note. Baidu Core has delivered more than 20% net profit growth on average over the past six quarters, "which was helped by OPEX efficiency execution and lower-than-expected LLM-related R&D and depreciation expense," he added.
The full-year guidance was mixed and reflected Baidu's "structural transition towards an increasing Gen-AI centric revenue mix," the analyst stated. Management expects to continue with the share repurchase authorization of $4 billion until December 2025, "with the target of containing/narrowing total share count," he further wrote.
Check out other analyst stock ratings.
Mizuho Securities On Baidu
Analyst James Lee reiterated a Buy rating and price target of $130.
Baidu Core generated revenue growth one point above consensus, with advertising revenues growing 3% year-on-year, "decelerating 8 points from 11% last quarter," Lee said. Baidu's mobile ecosystem continued to gain traction, with app monthly average users (MAUs) growing by 3% year-on-year, he added.
"Non-advertising revenues grew 6% YoY driven by the AI Cloud business but decelerating 3 points vs 9% last quarter," the analyst further wrote.
Benchmark On Baidu
Analyst Fawne Jiang reaffirmed a Buy rating and price target of $180.
Baidu's revenues came in line with lowered expectations and the company delivered a "solid beat on profitability," Jiang said. The company is likely to face a monetization setback as it incorporates incremental GenAI content in its search results, reducing its "ad inventory and ad load in attempt to boost user engagement and time spent," Jiang added.
The ongoing growth challenges due to macro and competition headwinds could further impact the company's core ad growth, the analyst said. "On the positive side, we anticipate that GenAI cloud adoption continues to drive acceleration in BIDU cloud growth and have raised our FY24 cloud estimates," Jiang further wrote.
BIDU Price Action: Shares of Baidu had declined by 1.63% to $110.76 at the time of publication on Friday.
百度公司(納斯達克股票代碼:BIDU)的股價在週五早盤交易中承壓,儘管該公司的季度業績好於預期。
業績是在激動人心的業績季中公佈的。以下是一些重要的分析師要點。
高盛在百度上
分析師林肯·孔維持買入評級,同時將目標股價從161美元下調至153美元。
孔在一份報告中說,百度公佈的第一季度收入符合預期,但成功實現了息稅前利潤和淨利潤。他補充說,百度酷睿在過去六個季度中平均實現了20%以上的淨利潤增長,“這得益於運營支出效率執行以及與LLM相關的研發和折舊費用低於預期。”
該分析師表示,全年指引喜憂參半,反映了百度 “向越來越以基因人工智能爲中心的收入結構過渡”。他進一步寫道,管理層預計將在2025年12月之前繼續獲得40億美元的股票回購授權,“目標是控制/縮小總股數”。
查看其他分析師股票評級。
百度上的瑞穗證券
分析師詹姆斯李重申了買入評級和130美元的目標股價。
李說,百度核心的收入增長比預期高出一個百分點,廣告收入同比增長3%,“較上個季度的11%減速了8個百分點”。他補充說,百度的移動生態系統繼續獲得吸引力,應用程序月平均用戶(MAU)同比增長3%。
該分析師進一步寫道:“在人工智能雲業務的推動下,非廣告收入同比增長6%,但下降了3個百分點,上個季度的9%。”
百度基準測試
分析師Fawne Jiang重申了買入評級和180美元的目標股價。
姜說,百度的收入與降低的預期一致,該公司 “盈利能力穩步增長”。姜補充說,該公司可能會面臨盈利方面的挫折,因爲它在搜索結果中納入了增量的 GenAI 內容,減少了 “廣告庫存和廣告負載,以期提高用戶參與度和花費時間”。
分析師表示,宏觀和競爭不利因素造成的持續增長挑戰可能會進一步影響公司的核心廣告增長。江進一步寫道:“從積極的方面來看,我們預計GenAI雲的採用將繼續推動BIDU雲增長的加速,並提高了我們對24財年的雲估計。”
BIDU價格走勢:週五發佈時,百度股價下跌了1.63%,至110.76美元。