【招银国际】Expecting steady cloud revenue growth-250415（6页）.pdf

1、 PLEASE READ THE ANALYST CERTIFICATION AND IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES ON LAST PAGE MORE REPORTS FROM BLOOMBERG:RESP CMBR OR http:/.hk 1 MN 15 Apr 2025 CMB International Global Markets|Equity Research|Company Update Baidu(BIDU US)Expecting steady cloud revenue growth For 1Q25E,we expect Baidu Core busines

2、s revenue could reach RMB24.0bn,up 1%YoY,and would be 3%better than Bloomberg consensus,mainly driven by likely better-than-expected cloud revenue growth boosted by strong AI-related demand.Aided by solid cloud revenue growth,we are anticipating non-GAAP operating profit of RMB4.5bn for Baidu Core,1

3、%better than consensus.Baidu is still proactively driving business transformation,embedding more Gen-AI related search results to enhance user experience and improve user activity.While the monetization of Gen-AI related search results has not started yet,and ads revenue growth should continue to se

4、e some headwinds from both competition and business transformation in the short term,we expect the potential monetization to start from late-2Q25,which should help drive a further sequential recovery in both ads revenue growth and operating margin.We fine-tune our SOTP-based target price to US$146.7

5、(was US$149.2)mainly to account for the change in investment valuation,translating into 13.9x 2025E PE(non-GAAP).BUY.Expecting mild recovery in ads business along with macro;ads monetization from AI related search results expected to kick in in late-2Q.Within Baidu Core business,we are looking for a

6、 slightly narrower YoY decline sequentially for ads business,to-5.9%in 1Q25E(4Q24:-6.5%;1Q24:+2.7%YoY)along with the mild recovery in macro.Although the YoY growth will still take time to return to positive trajectory,it is likely to hit bottom in 1Q25,and we are expecting sequential recovery on YoY