Baidu.com (BIDU), the leading Chinese language search engine, hit a new 52-week high of $108.28. Baidu’s was established in 2000 by co- founders, Robin Li and Eric Xu and the initial public offering was August 5, 2005 opening at $66 per share. Baidu recently announced a multi-year agreement with eBay’s China arm, EachNet, to cooperate in advertising, on-line payment and a co-branded toolbar.
“Baidu’s local know-how and attentive customer service create barriers for its competitors,” wrote WR Hambrecht analyst James Lee in a note to investors. Lee initiated coverage of Baidu with a “Buy” rating and a $130 price target. “We feel that Baidu was able to extend its lead over its peers by leveraging its strong sales support to advertisers and/or agencies,” Lee wrote. “This customer-centric strategy enables advertisers to get greater control of their marketing programs, thus creating demand for Baidu’s services over its competitors.”
Source: Forbes
3 responses
Dear David! Have they released Q1, Q2 or Q3 results data? It is interesting to compare them against Russian Yandex and American Google.
Itman, pretty strong financial growth as well as increasing market share to 50%. Don’t know about Yandex or Google but this is a tough act to follow.
Third Quarter 2006 Highlights
Total revenues increased by 24.9% sequentially or 169.1% year-over-year to RMB239.3 million ($30.3 million).
Net income increased by 45.8% sequentially or 902.5% year-over-year to RMB85.3 million ($10.8 million).
The number of active online marketing customers grew to more than 10 2,000, a 13.3% increase from the previous quarter.â€
Second Quarter 2006 Highlights
Total revenues increased by 41.3% sequentially or 174.9% year-over-year to RMB191.6 million ($24.0 million).
Net income increased by 65.9% sequentially or 385.2% year-over-year to RMB58.5 million ($7.3 million).
The number of active online marketing customers grew to more than 90,000, an increase of 21.6% from the previous quarter.â€
First Quarter 2006 Highlights
* Total revenues increased by 18.0% sequentially or 196.8% year-over-year to RMB135.6 million ($16.9 million).
Net income increased by 43.5% sequentially or 1309.0% year-over-year to RMB35.2 million ($4.4 million).
Thanks a lot, a growth rate is quite impressive!