Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) closed at $167.21 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.2% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.72% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.55%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.71%.
Coming into today, shares of the web search company had gained 1.14% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 2.41%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.28%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from BIDU as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect BIDU to post earnings of $0.79 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 69.62%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.62 billion, up 8.73% from the prior-year quarter.
BIDU's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.88 per share and revenue of $17.65 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -7.88% and +15.15%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for BIDU should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. BIDU is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, BIDU currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.79. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 25.22, so we one might conclude that BIDU is trading at a discount comparatively.
Meanwhile, BIDU's PEG ratio is currently 1.36. 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. Internet - Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.04 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 159, putting it in the bottom 38% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
Baidu, Inc. (BIDU): Free Stock Analysis Report
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