Baidu Inc. (BIDU) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) closed the most recent trading day at $203.21, moving +1.54% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.15%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.89%.
Coming into today, shares of the web search company had lost 8.06% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 7.5%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.16%.
BIDU will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 25, 2018. In that report, analysts expect BIDU to post earnings of $2.57 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 33.93%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.12 billion, up 16.58% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.70 per share and revenue of $15.37 billion. These totals would mark changes of +9.3% and +21.17%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for BIDU. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 29.59% lower within the past month. BIDU currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note BIDU's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.71. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 33.79, which means BIDU is trading at a discount to the group.
Investors should also note that BIDU has a PEG ratio of 0.92 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.36 at yesterday's closing price.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 82, putting it in the top 32% 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
