Sanford Bernstein starts coverage with Outperform

“China is now the world’s largest and fastest growing online
market,” Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay wrote in a note to
clients. “There is more than enough domestic growth to fuel
both players for at least the next five years.” Online
advertising in China will grow 28 percent in 2009, compared
with 11 percent in the U.S., the New York-based analyst
wrote. Chinese wireless data usage will grow 63 percent this
year, Bernstein said. Both Internet companies will have revenue
growth of more than 20 percent through 2014, he said. The
analyst started coverage with an estimated stock price of $170
for Baidu. “Concerns about the Chinese economy and spate of
controversies affecting the Internet in China, including a recent
crackdown on pornography, have rattled investor confidence”
Lindsay wrote. “These fears, in our view, are unwarranted.”