In the latest trading session, Baidu Inc. (BIDU) closed at $120.94, marking a +2.29% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.8%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.6%.
Shares of the web search company have depreciated by 2.04% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 7.62%, and the S&P 500's gain of 5.15%.
The upcoming earnings release of Baidu Inc. will be of great interest to investors. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $2.12, indicating a 16.86% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.67 billion, up 4.45% from the prior-year quarter.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.91 per share and a revenue of $20.02 billion, representing changes of +29.71% and +10.59%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Baidu Inc. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical 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, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. At present, Baidu Inc. boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Baidu Inc. is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 11.94. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 12.94.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, which puts it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Baidu, Inc. (BIDU): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).