Baidu Inc. (BIDU) closed the most recent trading day at $126.45, moving -0.89% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily of 0%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.08%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.18%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the web search company had gained 6.75% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 4.19% and the S&P 500’s gain of 3.37% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from BIDU as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, BIDU is projected to report earnings of $1.79 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 6.77%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.90 billion, down 1.49% from the year-ago period.
BIDU’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.58 per share and revenue of $15.51 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -42.12% and +1.19%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for BIDU. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. BIDU is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
In terms of valuation, BIDU is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.85. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 32.6, so we one might conclude that BIDU is trading at a discount comparatively.
It is also worth noting that BIDU currently has a PEG ratio of 10.09. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. The Internet – Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.94 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 98, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Be the first to comment