China search leader Baidu (BIDU) is poised to post “gradual margin improvement throughout the year” and capture “significant” local advertising growth on the heels of its disappointing Q1 earnings, an analyst says. “The Street has overlooked the potential of the company’s city-based and proximity-based search enhancement,” wrote W.R. Hambrecht & Co./Summit Research analyst Henry Guo in a research note Monday. “In Q1 2015, Baidu’s advertising
Baidu (BIDU) stock fell sharply Thursday after China’s search leader reported Q1 revenue below Wall Street expectations and gave soft Q2 guidance, even as the company spent heavily to advance its mobile business in the face of competition from Alibaba (BABA) and others. The number of active online marketing customers remained relatively steady at 524,000 compared to Q4, Baidu said. However, those customers spent 9.8% less in Q1 than in Q4, Baidu
Baidu’s (BIDU) first-quarter earnings topped forecasts despite increased spending to focus on mobile search, but revenue was light and Q2 guidance was cautious. The dominant Chinese search engine earned $1.09 a share, topping the $1.04 that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting. Earnings excluding stock compensation were $1.22 a share. Revenue came in at $2.05 billion, just below forecasts of $2.08 billion. Mobile accounted for 50% of