Baidu, China’s home-grown version of Google, reported higher-than-expected first quarter profits. From Bloomberg:
“Organic Internet user growth, government stimulus plans and Baidu’s brand campaign on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala are major reasons for the upside,” Ming Zhao, an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, wrote in an April 23 report. He has a “positive” rating on the stock.
It’s also interesting to note that according to Xi Guohua, vice minister of industry and information technology, China added 16.2 million Web users in the first quarter.