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

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Baidu Inc. (BIDU - Free Report) closed at $142.26 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.56% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.7%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.29%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.04%.

Coming into today, shares of the web search company had gained 19.89% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 7.4%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.38%.

BIDU will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.79, down 6.77% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.90 billion, down 1.49% from the year-ago period.

It is also important to note the 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. BIDU is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, BIDU currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.11. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 28.12.

Meanwhile, BIDU's PEG ratio is currently 7.55. 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. Internet - Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.56 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, which puts it in the bottom 38% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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