By Tracy Qu

Baidu is scheduled to report results for the first quarter on Wednesday. Here is what you need to know:

NET PROFIT: The Chinese search-engine company's net profit likely fell 31% to 3.745 billion yuan, equivalent to $519.1 million, for the three months ended March, according to the consensus estimate of 12 analysts in a FactSet poll. That would compare with the 5.45 billion yuan reported in the year-earlier period.

REVENUE: Baidu's revenue is expected at 30.43 billion yuan for the quarter, according to FactSet, down 3.4% from a year ago.

The company's Hong Kong-listed shares rose 8.8% in the first three months of the year as tech stocks broadly rose amid optimism over Chinese AI startup DeepSeek and Beijing's more favorable stance toward private enterprises.

WHAT TO WATCH:

--CLOUD: Baidu's AI cloud business likely remained a key growth driver, said Citi, which estimates a 25% rise in first-quarter segment revenue. For the second half of 2025, investors will closely watch for signs of momentum in the company's AI cloud business, whether tariff uncertainty hurt the pace of cloud customer adoption and its AI monetization progress, Citi analysts said in a research note.

--ADVERTISING: Online marketing revenue for Baidu Core, the main business segment, is expected to fall by about 6% year-over-year, smaller than the decline recorded in the previous quarter, according to Jefferies analysts. The weak revenue is due mainly to the impact of macro headwinds on small and medium enterprises and offline advertisers, the analysts said in a note.

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 20, 2025 06:02 ET (10:02 GMT)

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