Baidu Stock Soars After Second Quarter Revenue Beats Estimates

Baidu, Inc, the company responsible for China’s leading internet search service among other things, has reported robust financial performance in the second quarter, beating estimates on revenue. BIDU’s share price rose 7.8% in postmarket trading reaching $104.22. Revenues reached $3.84 billion, beating the high end of expectations by $120 million.

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Baidu CFO Herman Yu commented on the quarter’s performance, “Baidu delivered a solid second quarter with revenues reaching 26.3 billion yuan, growing 9% sequentially, and Baidu Core revenues growing 12% sequentially, despite the weak macro environment, our self-directed healthcare initiative, industry-specific policy changes and large influx of ad inventory. With Baidu traffic growing robustly and our mobile ecosystem continuing to expand, we are in a good position to focus on capitalizing monetization and ROI improvement opportunities to deliver shareholder value.”

CEO and co-founder Robin Li commented on Baidu’s user metrics, “In June, Baidu App DAUs reached 188 million, up 27% year over year, in-app search queries grew over 20% year over year and smart mini program MAUs reached 270 million, up 49% sequentially.”

Li also spoke about the new initiatives for Baidu, including content creation, saying, “As mobile internet penetration in China slows, we are excited about the huge opportunity to provide content and service providers a cross-platform distribution channel beyond mobile, into smart homes and automobiles.”

The company projected next quarter’s revenue to be in the range of $3.84 billion–$4.07 billion.