Baidu shares’ gaping underperformance in focus as results loom

Results due Tuesday from Baidu (9888) may provide investors clues on whether the Chinese internet search leader’s lagging share price performance is warranted or not.

The company kicks off the China internet earnings season, which has been hotly anticipated amid the recent DeepSeek-fueled stock boom. While its Hong Kong-listed shares are up 18 percent from a January low, peers Alibaba (9988) and Tencent (0700) have soared at least 35 percent on AI-related news.

Baidu has been ramping up AI investments, and Apple Inc. has chosen to work with the Beijing-based company on some AI features for devices sold in China, Bloomberg News has reported. Still, Baidu has been struggling with monetization of the technology amid the nation’s broader economic malaise. Analysts estimate it will report a 4.5 percent decline in sales for the three months through December, its worst performance since the second quarter of 2022.

“Unless there’s a significant change in consumer confidence, it’s hard to see their advertisement business dramatically improving,” and that is key for Baidu’s valuation, said Kai Wang, an analyst at Morningstar Inc. The stock currently trades at 9.4 times forward earnings estimates, below its three-year average of 12 times.

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