Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Baidu's second-quarter earnings of $1.22 per share were above expectations. Revenues grew an astound

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Baidu Inc. (ADR) ( BIDU ) is a Chinese-language Internet search provider and software company that provides mobile security for corporate users and consumers. Baidu is one of the leading Chinese Internet companies, and this has been exemplified by its surging shares, which have gained more than 70% in the past three months alone. Chinese stocks seem to be the darlings halo 4 of the masses and the flavor of the moment, with stocks such as NQ Mobile ( NQ ), Ctrip.com International ( CTRP ), Proto Labs ( PRLB ) all making sizable gains on the Sept. 23, 2013 trade. NQ Mobile in particular made spectacular halo 4 gains, surging ahead 4% to $23.80. Baidu gained 2% to trade at $149.26, and has shown no signs of slowing down ever since, gaining a further 3.4% in a short span of just three days to trade at the current $154.28. Of the leading Chinese Internet companies, only Move, Inc . ( MOVE ) lost ground, with its shares dipping 0.25% to trade at $16.18.
Baidu made an important halo 4 acquisition when it purchased 91 Wireless in mid-July this year, thus making it China's largest mobile apps and games distributor. The $1.9 billion acquisition ranks as the largest acquisition in China's Internet history. The move was received very warmly by its investors, halo 4 which is quite understandable, considering that Baidu derives more than 10% of its revenues from mobile devices. A JPMorgan analyst announced on Monday, Sept.23, 2013, that he expected both Baidu and Qihoo 360 Technology ( QIHU ) to start making money off gaming halo 4 sooner rather than later. halo 4 Both firms have received strong ''Buy'' ratings from the firm.
Prior to the acquisition, Baidu was lagging behind its competition halo 4 in the mobile Internet arena with just 35% of the market . Companies such as Alibaba and Tencent were well ahead of Baidu in the game. Alibaba had earlier beaten Baidu to the tape when it acquired UC, a mobile game platform, after a hotly contested takeover bid by the two business rivals. The acquisition will help Baidu to bolster its mobile platform.
The acquisition of 91 Wireless instead of UC by Baidu was significant halo 4 in a number of ways. Baidu's major weakness is its mobile apps and mobile gaming platform. 91 Wireless operates several business segments such as the 91 Mobile Assistant, 91 Desktop, Android Market 91 Reader and a host of other apps. Baidu can build synergy around these businesses, and strengthen its floundering mobile business. On the other hand, UC operates a mobile browser and a mobile gaming platform. 91 Wireless has brought more to Baidu's table than UC could have done. In any case, the UC browser uses Baidu as its default search engine, and it continues to do so. 91Wireless was, therefore, a much better buy than UC could have been.
Baidu's second-quarter earnings of $1.22 per share were above expectations. Revenues grew an astounding 43.6% Y-o-Y to over $1.23 billion. The firm has issued revenue guidance for the third quarter, where it said it expects revenues to be around $1.422-$1.460 billion, beating consensus estimates, again. halo 4
There halo 4 is no denying that Baidu is now facing intense competition from Internet stalwarts such as Qihoo 360, which has managed to grab 18% of the market since its debut in 2012, as well as companies such as Sohu, Tencent Holdings and Sogou, which have formed a strategic cooperation that will give the firms a 14% slice of the market. Baidu has been steadily ceding market share in the face of this fierce internal competition, with its slice of the market falling from its once dominant, and seemingly unassailable, 80% to the current 63%.
Although Baidu is still the Chinese Internet market leader, the unpredictability of the rapidly evolving Chinese Internet market makes it quite hard to predict which company will be the eventual winner in the space a few years from now. The highly changeable nature of this market has been clearly demonstrated by the phenomenal rise to stardom of Qihoo 360, a software security provider, in just one year. Qihoo 360 has joined ranks with social networking site Renren.com , a partnership that is aimed at the consolidation of their user accounts. The Chinese Internet space is abuzz with activity, with numerous strategic partnerships being formed. Qihoo 360 recently made its intentions of taking on Baidu clear, when it jointly launched 360.etao.com together with Alibaba. Don't forget that Qihoo and Alibaba both have another alliance with Sina, China's hugely popular micro-blogging service.
Despite the stiff internal competition, it is quite unlikely that Google ( GOOG ) and Yahoo ( YHOO ) will pose much threat to Baidu as earlier feared, at least not in the near future. By February 2013, Google had a 4.25% slice of the Chinese Internet search market, a significant 0.47% decline from October 2012 , while Yahoo China controlled a mere 0.28%, a marginal 0.03% increase since October 2012. Google's Chinese market share has been steadily declinin

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