[photopress:600_BAIDU.jpg,full,alignright]Shares of Chinese online search engine operator Baidu.com hit a new high Monday after an RBC Capital Markets analyst increased his price target for the stock on expectations.
American Depositary Shares of Baidu added $8.36, or 3.6%. In a note to clients Monday, RBC analyst Jordan Rohan raised his price target to $333 from $302 and reiterated his ‘Outperform’ rating for the stock.
Jordan Rohan believes the company should be able to bring on as many or more advertisers during the third quarter as it did in the second, and thinks its travel and education segments will perform well, too. In addition, the overall Chinese search market is growing strongly and extra people are being added to the company’s salesforce.
He said Baidu has about 5,000 employees, about 70% of whom work on sales and customer service aspects of its business.
According to a study by a Citi Investment Research analyst Chinese search engine market survey showed Baidu still has the lead. According to the study, Baidu and Google comprise 92.4% of total primary users in the Chinese search market on a daily basis, with Bidu having the edge.
Source: AP