Baidu is updating Youa's product information database and layout, Sohu reports. The new page uses tabs for basic description, specs, pictures, complaints and comments.
Youa also announced the "Ark Project" to set up and deploy a standard product database containing product specifications, user reviews, online purchasing, price quotes, evaluations and information on related accessories. The database will include standard price ranges, but model numbers not included in the database cannot be sold by merchants on the YouA platform. A spokesperson for Baidu YouA saidd that the "Ark Project" is an open-source project that will draw on the information resources of YouA and other B2C platforms, informative websites and the Baidu Knows community to build up the database.
Deutsche upped PT from $374 to $408. Deutsche Bank said they got a peek into the black box, conducting an on-line, interactive tutorial of Baidu's many properties and services. Deutsche Bank said they have also concluded that pricing continues to improve, and that market share should be steady-to-up. The firm also raised their 2009/2010 EPS by 2% and 5% to $6.48 and $10.48, respectively.
JPM's Dick Wei sets a PT of $390. Expects revenue to grow 40 to 50% for the next couple of years.
"Baidu has a significant lead in market share, there is only 25 percent penetration and people know the brand," said Wei. "The share price still has room to rise." Wei says Baidu is one of J.P. Morgan's top picks in the sector and recommends an overweight for the stock.
Nomura downgraded from "neutral" to "reduce" with a PT of $311.3. "It is trading at a premium to pre-financial crisis valuations," said Jin Yoon, an analyst at Nomura International. "Where does the stock go from here? Its overheated", it's a case of liking the company but not the stock, said Yoon. "The company is still highly correlated to the broader economy, which is not out of the woods yet," said Yoon.
Credit Suisse says Baidu is expensive and has a target price of $248, implying a PE ratio of 39 times forecast 2009 earnings. Credit Suisse reckons traffic acquisition cost (TAC) -- a key barometer of profit margins -- as a percent of total gross revenue rose 16.0 percent in second quarter, from 12.7 percent a year earlier, and could hit 17.3 percent in 2010. ($=6.83 yuan)
Last week, Baidu added a video search function to its Japanese search engine, along with a feature to limit the search to websites such as YouTube or MySpace.
Baidu has also launched a brand new online customer support center at support.baidu.com, and published a report on China's online game industry for H1, 09. Players use the search engine as their #1 resource for information on online games.
CS reiterates underperform, and symbolically lowers PT from $250 to $248.
Nomura reiterates neutral rating. China’s $585 billion stimulus package is bolstering Baidu’s earnings as companies buy ads to sell products needed for road, bridge and other projects funded by the government, said Jin Yoon, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. The economy grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter after expanding 6.1 percent in the first amid simultaneous recessions in Europe, Japan and the U.S. “The worst is behind us,” said Hong Kong-based Yoon. “The second half of this year will be strong for Baidu.”
"The new bidding system should lead to more targeted results and higher revenue over time," Steve Weinstein, an analyst from Pacific Crest Securities said in a note. PT at $410.
Deutsche Bank said Baidu is an "excellent margin story" and said the transition to new ad system Phoenix Nest was faster than expected. They reiterated their Buy rating and $374 price target. They also noted Baidu's search traffic share seems to have steadily increased since March end.
CLSA lifted its price target today to a 'Street High' $430, reiterating their Buy rating.
Susquehanna said large advertisers, margin expansion led to better EPS. The firm raised their price target to $380, reiterating their Positive rating.
Piper Jaffray said the results were strong and the company's less conservative guidance for Q3 is a sign that the overall advertising environment has improved in China. The firm noted operating margin improved significantly in Q209 to 38.5%, vs. 34.4% in Q208 and 24.5% in Q109. The firm raised their price target from $340 to $363, although they maintained their Neutral rating.
Goldman Sachs said Baidu's Q2 results exceeded their revenue and margin forecasts. Goldman said they were surprised that TAC climbed to 17% of revenues, but said BIDU still beat on margins. The analyst raised his price target on Baidu from $350 to $376, maintaining the top Conviction Buy List rating on the shares.
Business largely back to normal - Baidu's strong Q2 QoQ growth and Q3 guidance suggest that the impact of the CCTV expose is largely over, and the core business is back on track. With Baidu adding sales headcount, Phoenix Nest set to improve relevancy and monetization, and ARPU likely to increase with the improving economy, the outlook for the next 12 months is bright. While traffic acquisition costs (TAC) likely will increase further, we believe Baidu can moderate spend elsewhere (e.g., Japan, marketing, etc.) to protect OpM and hence earnings. We maintain Buy and raise our TP to US$385 (30x 2010E P/E), from US$260, as we roll our valuation forward to a 2010 base.
RBC notes although BIDU's 3Q09 guidance (reported last night after the close) was shy of the highest expectations, firm notes that 15-18% sequential growth is still very impressive all things considered. The high-end of guidance is in-line with firm's est, and it will move consensus ests higher. If there was one blemish on the reported qtr, it is the continued increase in TAC payments as traffic from the Union continues to outgrow that of Baidu O&O. Mgmt noted the absence of the summer Olympics as a factor in the improvement in sequential growth vs. the prior yr, though RBC believes the stabilization in the macro environment is also helping Baidu return to more normal seasonal growth trends seen in years prior to 2008. 2Q09 was yet another uneventful qtr with no thesis-changing data points, and as such maintains Outperform rating. Tgt rasied to $339 from $331.
During the annual Baidu World forum, Yanhong Li will cover general outlook for the Internet, the CTO, Yinan Li, search technology, and COO Peng Ye, using the search platform to improve marketing by businesses. The dynamic search database update, Aladdin, will be showcased. Five categories of topics will be covered: trends in search technology, e-commerce, search marketing, wireless internet, and Internet investment.
Baidu Ad Guan Jia is a free online ad campaign management system, which helps advertisers place and manage ads, and evaluate their performance based on traffic statistics. The system supports various ad formats including fixed-place ads, pop-ups, and floating ads. It enables advertisers to target ad placements based on regions, dates, browsers, domains, screen resolutions, etc. Its billing functions support mainstream options including day-based, page view-based, and click-based billings. Currently Baidu Ad Guan Jia is in closed beta testing.
RBC reiterates outperform, raising PT to $335. CS downgrades to underperform from neutral, raising PT to $250 from $200. Cites slower switchover to Phoenix Nest, and the chance of more competition from vertical search engines (presumably Taobao) as the main drawbacks. Increases 2009 estimate 3% and 2010 estimate 2%. GS reiterates conviction buy.
Baidu's social networking and blogging site, Baidu space, had 100 million registered users and two million concurrent users by its third anniversary, as per a Sina report. Baidu space is simple, dependable, and associated with the positive Baidu brand.
China Telecom Beijing is selling 3G wireless products such as mobile phones, netbooks, recharging cards, wireless broadband service, and voice service packets, on Baidu's e-commerce site, Youa.com. The products are for China Telecom's users in Beijing, as of now.
Baidu will soon release a platform codenamed, somewhat tackily, "Sherlock Holmes". The service will provide detailed usage statistics for websites, including IP addresses, traffic sources, and time on site.
Baidu Hi is now linked to the payment tool Bai Fu Bao and e-commerce site Yuoa.com. Links to Youa.com sent through the IM service, Baidu Hi, now also show product names and maps. The e-commerce and IM sites are going to be further integrated in the future.
Baidu will provide search-focused solutions for Suning's B2C site. Suning is a large home appliance and electronics retail chain in China, with around 85 billion RMB in sales last year.
Baidu is closing its statistics service on July 28, 2009, and moving to the beta version of new software. The software will be fully supported by mid-August. It has been in development for about a year, and will provide better online ad and website statistics services. The data from the beta test period will not be maintained once the service is operational, and users are required to back them up on their own.
Baidu's online channel forum, Post bar, is partnering with Perfect World to come up with a Baidu version of the 3d game 'hot dance party'. Users can win upto RMB 1000 worth of game items by participating in various activities on the site. The website with the Baidu version of the game, wanba.baidu.com/rwpd, has been up from June 26th.
Yanhong Li had been to Taiwan last year, on what was considered an exploratory tour. He has already stated Baidu is interested in the Taiwanese search market, currently dominated by Yahoo via the Kimo acquisition.
The new price target is based on 1.0 PEG, 38 times 2010 estimated PE and 38% CAGR (09-12).
The firm said recent discussions with management leads them to believe that 2Q rev growth is above/in-line with 33-37% guidance, despite recent labor issues. The firm also commented Baidu is well positioned to capture secular growth as its initiatives to improve service quality (Aladdin) and monetization (Phoenix Nest) received positive initial feedback. They expect Baidu to capitalize on continuous improvement of China's Internet fundamentals given its mkt leadership, product quality and brand equity.
DB's price target is the 2nd highest on the Street, below Pacific Crest's $410.
TAC at 30% to 45% depending on traffic, cooperation model, and duration. That means companies which tie up with Baidu by using Baidu's tools on their website, driving traffic to ad sites, would receive that much percentage of ad revenues. The level of cooperation can be "exclusive", "privileged" and "preferred".
In addition Baidu has teamed up with China Mobile on their music portal "12530".
Baidu's keyword promotion project had the word "agriculture" contributing the most to revenue growth. The company is proceeding to build a rural-knowledge base, presumably on farming related items and issues.
