BIDU-SW (09888.HK) +2.500 (+2.306%) Short selling $463.68M; Ratio 24.693% opened up 3.23% today after reporting better-than-expected results for 1Q24. After hiking 5% to the peak of $114, a high since mid-January this year, it trades now at $112.5, rising 3.78%, on a volume of 4.2318 million shares and a turnover of $476 million.
BIDU's total revenue for 1Q was RMB31.513 billion, up 1% YoY, which was better than expected. Non-GAAP net profit reached RMB7.011 billion, lifting 22% YoY, strongly beating consensus expectations.
Chairman and CEO Robin Li said that with the start of the new era of artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC) in China, foundation models such as Ernie Bot will become the relevant infrastructure, integrated into all aspects of life. The Ernie series of products will bring more opportunities for the company in the future, he believed.
BofA remarked that BIDU is transforming from a search engine business to an AI business, with accelerating growth in its cloud business and maintenance of healthy margins. UBS meanwhile noted that the company's quarterly margins were better than expected but the outlook for its advertising business is modest.
(HK stocks quote is delayed for at least 15 mins.Short Selling Data as at 2024-05-17 16:25.)
