Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR)(NASDAQ:BIDU): Unable To Sustain Above $150
Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR)(NASDAQ:BIDU) shares have been consolidating over the past over the past one month within narrow a range of $133 and $152 followed by a 15% jump in the first two-month of the current year.
The stock recently made multiple attempts to break above $150, but couldn’t sustain. Analysts are bullish on the stock considering its solid market share in China of about 80%.
Last week, the stock was up about 2% and closed above $150 mark after Rovio Entertainment Oy, creator of the “Angry Birds” mobile-phone game said that the company is negotiations with Chinese companies in including Baidu.com, Inc. (ADR)(NASDAQ:BIDU) and Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:SOHU) in order to expend its popular in the world’s biggest Web market.
Rovio has recorded more than 100 million downloads for the “Angry Birds” game in China, helped by demand from users of phones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system, and Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad devices. Recently, Apple added Baidu’s Search in its iOS browser, which should provide strong support to the company’s strategy to expand its footprint in the mobile web market. Compared to the US, where smartphone penetration reached 43%, China’s smartphone penetration is only 13%, according to iResearch, implying significant upside.
The company is scheduled to report its first quarter earnings on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Analysts are estimating Baidu to report strong quarter with average EPS estimated 84 cents a share, well above its year ago profit of 47 cents a share. Revenue is also projected to grow 82.10% to $677.51 million, from a year ago revenue of $372 million.
The company has beaten Wall Street’s estimates in the all the past four quarters. The stock has performed well so far this year as the stock is up 27% year-to-date and 1% over the past one year.
The stock is trading higher by 0.24% to $148.01.