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Baidu Inc. (BIDU) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Baidu Inc. (BIDU - Free Report) closed at $182.79, marking a -1.3% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.33%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.44%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.01%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the web search company had gained 1.89% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 1.56% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.89% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from BIDU as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 12, 2019. On that day, BIDU is projected to report earnings of $2.11 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 7.86%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.86 billion, up 6.58% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.01 per share and revenue of $15.13 billion, which would represent changes of +2.25% and +19.31%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for BIDU should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 3.02% lower. BIDU currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that BIDU has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.51 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 27.15.

Also, we should mention that BIDU has a PEG ratio of 0.81. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. BIDU's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.17 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 80, putting it in the top 31% 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.


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