Baidu Inc. (BIDU) closed the most recent trading day at $119.02, moving -1.72% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.62%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.69%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.94%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the web search company had lost 2.13% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 2.56% and the S&P 500’s gain of 3.51% in that time.
BIDU will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect BIDU to post earnings of $1.39 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 5.44%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.44 billion, down 10.42% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.40 per share and revenue of $15.70 billion. These totals would mark changes of -14.44% and +1.22%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for BIDU. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. BIDU is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.
Investors should also note BIDU’s current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.92. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 33.34, which means BIDU is trading at a discount to the group.
Also, we should mention that BIDU has a PEG ratio of 2.7. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. The Internet – Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.51 as of yesterday’s close.
The Internet – Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 151, which puts it in the bottom 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
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