0312 GMT - Baidu's ads revenue likely bottomed out in fourth-quarter last year, Daiwa analyst John Choi writes in a note. The company's ads revenue likely declined to a high single digit in 4Q, the analyst says but expects it to improve and return to growth in 2H this year. Baidu could begin internal testing of some commercialization features of AI-empowered queries and gradually ramp that up this year, he says. Thanks to robust demand from GPU cloud services the brokerage maintains its 4Q growth forecast of 12% on year for Baidu's cloud services. Daiwa cuts the stock's target price to HK$108 from HK$115 on weaker offline exposure in its marketing business and maintains a buy rating. Shares last at HK$79.95. (jiahui.huang@wsj.com; @ivy_jiahuihuang)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2025 22:12 ET (03:12 GMT)
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