And finally, the action in shares of Baidu( BIDU _) will be interesting to watch on Tuesday. The volatile stock got a 3%-plus haircut on Friday after the China Internet search provider's quarterly report. The earnings were above consensus, but the company's outlook for revenue of $666.5 million to $688 million in its fiscal first quarter does represent a sequential decline from its fourth-quarter total of $710.9 million.
Over the weekend, China reportedly asked Baidu to help control "harmful" information on the Internet.
Jefferies kept its buy rating and $200 price target on Baidu shares following the report, saying the company's "growth outlook is intact as traditional offline and brand advertisers increase spending on search marketing."
The firm wasn't put off by Baidu's guidance and underlined how quickly the company is growing by noting it added 5,200 employees in 2011, including 1,400 in the fourth quarter, to bring total headcount to more than 16,000.
"Baidu guided 1Q12 total revenue at RMB4.195bn-4.33bn, representing 72.2-77.7% YoY growth or 3.2-6.2% QoQ decline," Jefferies said. "The QoQ decline is mainly due to weaker seasonality for online ads in 1Q11. The midpoint of the guidance (RMB4.26bn) is 12.3% higher than our previous forecast (published on January 30), and in line with consensus."
Baidu shares closed Friday at $136.90, down 3.5%, with volume reaching nearly 16 million, more than two times its three-month trailing daily average of 6 million. Year-to-date, the stock is up 17.5%, pushing its forward P/E to 21.2.
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