Baidu Inc. (BIDU) closed the most recent trading day at $86.95, moving -1.68% from the previous trading session. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.33% for the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.63%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.22%.
The stock of web search company has risen by 0.72% in the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 5.24% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.07%.
The upcoming earnings release of Baidu Inc. will be of great interest to investors. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $2.05, signifying a 29.07% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $4.61 billion, showing a 1.37% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.
BIDU's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.28 per share and revenue of $18.73 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -11.87% and +1.28%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Baidu Inc. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Baidu Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In the context of valuation, Baidu Inc. is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 9.53. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 20.25 for its industry.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 149, which puts it in the bottom 40% of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Baidu, Inc. (BIDU): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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