[ET Net News Agency, 24 March 2021] Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on Baidu Inc.
(09888) with a "buy" rating and a target price of HK$373.
The research house believes the worst of the pandemic is behind for Baidu's core
advertising business and also expects exciting developments in the non-core Cloud and
Intelligent Driving (EV+Apollo) businesses to unlock significant shareholder value in the
next 3-5 years.
Three reasons supporting its "buy" thesis include: (1) the unique value proposition of
the Cloud business, with +61% growth expected in 2021; (2) growth prospects of the Apollo
open platform and EV business to lead to 7% market share by 2029; and (3) the recovery in
ad revenues post Covid and further monetization of Baidu traffic from synergies of the
proposed YY integration. (KL)