Morgan Stanley analysts maintained their Overweight rating on Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), expressing optimism about the company’s stock performance in the near term.
The analysts commented that there is a strong likelihood for the stock’s price to rise in the next 60 days, citing its recent decline as a factor that has made its short-term valuation particularly attractive. The stock price, according to the analysts, has undergone a significant correction due to market concerns surrounding the recent developments with Ernie Bot. Despite these concerns, they foresee an improvement in Baidu’s fundamentals towards the fourth quarter of 2023 and into 2024.
This anticipated improvement is expected to be driven by advertising growth outpacing GDP growth and a pivotal rise in cloud growth, fueled by incremental contributions from AI technologies. The analysts estimate a 70% to 80% probability, or a “very likely” chance, of this scenario occurring.