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Baidu (BIDU) to Report Q1 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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Baidu, Inc. (BIDU - Free Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter 2022 results on May 26.

For the first quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $4.37 billion, indicating growth of 1.8% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Further, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 76 cents per share, suggesting a decline of 59.8% from the prior-year reported figure.

The company beat estimates in all of the trailing four quarters, delivering an earnings surprise of 27.45%, on average.

Baidu, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

 

Baidu, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Baidu, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Baidu, Inc. Quote

Factor to Consider

Gains from Baidu’s expanding footprint in the autonomous driving space are expected to get reflected in the to-be-reported quarter’s results. The growing traction of the Apollo Go Robotaxi service across China is likely to have hugely favored the company in the first quarter.

The growing efforts toward strengthening Baidu’s AI business are expected to have been the key catalyst. The company’s robust DuerOS voice assistant and Baidu Cloud are anticipated to have benefited the performance of the business in the quarter under review.

The growing adoption of Baidu ACE smart transportation is likely to have contributed well to the performance of the company’s AI business in the first quarter.

Apart from this, sustained efforts to bolster the mobile search engine and AI tools are anticipated to have aided the first-quarter performance.

The strengthening of Baidu's mobile ecosystem is expected to have contributed to growth in the average daily active user base of the Baidu App in the first quarter. Hosted solutions on the Baidu App are expected to have driven the Baidu Core segment in the to-be-reported quarter.

In addition to these, the company’s well-performing iQIYI segment, which offers online entertainment services, is expected to have contributed well to the to-be-reported quarter’s performance.

However, the impacts of higher promotional expenses and heavy spending on new growth areas are expected to have affected the company’s performance in the quarter under discussion.

Further, uncertainties related to the coronavirus pandemic in China are anticipated to have been concerning.

What Our Model Says

Our proven model doesn’t conclusively predict an earnings beat for Baidu this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Baidu has an Earnings ESP of +9.93% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies, which have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Veeva Systems (VEEV - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.36% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Veeva Systems is set to report first-quarter fiscal 2023 results on Jun 1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for VEEV’s earnings is pegged at 92 cents per share, which suggests an increase of 1.1% from the prior-year reported figure.

Infosys (INFY - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +5.56% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

Infosys is scheduled to release first-quarter fiscal 2023 results on Jul 13. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for INFY’s earnings is pegged at 18 cents per share, which suggests an increase of 5.9% from the prior-year reported figure.

Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.21% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

Alibaba is scheduled to release fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 results on May 26. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BABA’s earnings is pegged at $1.06 per share.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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