Macquarie Maintains Hold Rating for Baidu (9888) with HK$96 Target

Macquarie analyst Ellie Jiang has maintained a Hold rating for Baidu, Inc. Class A with a HK$96.00 price target. Jiang has a 4-star rating with a 10.7% average return and 60.40% success rate. The company reported a quarterly revenue of HK$32.45 billion and net profit of HK$7.72 billion, compared to HK$34.95 billion and HK$2.6 billion last year.

Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc. (HK:9888, NASDAQ:BIDU) reported mixed quarterly results for the second quarter (Q2) of 2025, with revenue declining and net profit surging. The company's shares opened at HK$85.70 and fell as much as 3% to HK$84.60 following the announcement [3].

Baidu's Q2 revenue was HK$32.45 billion (US$4.56 billion), a 4% year-over-year drop, primarily driven by a 15% decline in online marketing revenue to HK$16.2 billion. Despite the revenue decline, Baidu's net profit soared to HK$7.72 billion, a 33% year-over-year increase. The company attributed this growth to strong performance in its AI cloud business, which saw robust revenue growth [2].

Macquarie analyst Ellie Jiang has maintained a Hold rating for Baidu, Inc. Class A with a HK$96.00 price target. Jiang has a 4-star rating with a 10.7% average return and 60.40% success rate. The company reported a quarterly revenue of HK$32.45 billion and net profit of HK$7.72 billion, compared to HK$34.95 billion and HK$2.6 billion last year [1].

Analysts remain cautious about Baidu's prospects. DBS maintains a Hold rating on Baidu Class A with a price target of HK$84.00, reflecting the company's mixed performance and the uncertain economic outlook in China [3]. The analyst consensus is also Hold, with a price target consensus of HK$90.00. Analysts expect continued pressure on Baidu's core advertising business and are uncertain about the near-term recovery in search advertising [2].

Baidu plans to launch Ernie 5.0, a new version of its foundation model, in the coming months, which could further enhance its AI capabilities. However, the company must navigate the challenges posed by the uncertain economic outlook in China and the growing competition in the AI market [1, 2].

References:
[1] https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2025/08/20/baidu-posts-quarterly-revenue-drop-as-consumption-flags
[2] https://parameter.io/baidu-inc-bidu-stock-profit-surge-cant-hide-advertising-reality-check/
[3] https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/baidu-hk-shares-dip-as-q2-earnings-underwhelm-4203413