By Bloomberg News - Oct 28, 2011 5:02 AM GMT+0700
Baidu Inc., China’s biggest Internet company by market value, said third-quarter profit rose 80 percent, beating analysts’ estimates, as revenue from search- engine advertising surged.
Net income attributable to Baidu climbed to 1.88 billion yuan ($295 million), or 5.38 yuan per American depositary receipt, compared with 1.05 billion yuan, or 3 yuan, a year earlier, Baidu said today in a statement. That exceeded the 1.85 billion yuan average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Revenue jumped 85 percent as advertisers paid more for keywords to reach online users in China, where Baidu fields more than 80 percent of search-engine queries. Chief Executive Officer Robin Li, named by Forbes magazine as China’s second- richest man, is boosting investments on services, such as wireless and travel features, to meet competition from rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700)
“Baidu is getting its customers to increase their advertising spending,” Kelvin Ho, who rates the stock “buy” at Yuanta Securities in Hong Kong, said before the earnings announcement. Baidu is gaining market share in China from rivals including Google Inc. (GOOG), he said.
Baidu shares rose 5.8 percent to $138.39 today in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has climbed 43 percent this year, outpacing rivals.
The Hong Kong-traded shares of Tencent, China’s biggest online-games company, are up 9.5 percent in 2011. Shares of Alibaba.com Ltd. (1688) -- the business-to-business unit of Alibaba Group, the country’s biggest e-commerce company -- have declined 30 percent.
--Edmond Lococo, Mark Lee. Editors: Garry Smith,
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net; Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment