Mediaboss Marketing

By Maria Armental

Baidu Inc. reported a roughly 5% revenue increase for the fourth quarter, driven by cloud and other services, and projected a 26% to 39% year-over-year core-revenue increase in the first quarter. Here's what you need to know:

PROFIT: Net income for the quarter fell to 5.17 billion yuan ($794 million) from CNY6.35 billion a year earlier.

REVENUE: Total revenue rose to CNY30.26 billion ($4.64 billion) from CNY28.88 billion a year earlier and core revenue rose 6% to CNY23.1 billion ($3.54 billion). Baidu had projected CNY28.6 billion to CNY31.3 billion and projected a 1% decline to 10% increase in core revenue.

IQIYI: Baidu reported CNY7.5 billion ($1.14 billion) in revenue from iQiyi Inc., down 1% from the year earlier. IQiyi had projected CNY7.28 billion to CNY7.73 billion.

YEAR: Baidu ended the year at a profit of CNY22.47 billion ($3.44 billion) on CNY107.07 billion ($16.41 billion) in revenue, compared with a profit of CNY2.06 billion and CNY107.41 billion in revenue a year earlier.

OUTLOOK: This quarter, Baidu projects CNY26 billion to CNY28.5 billion ($4 billion to $4.4 billion) in revenue, compared with analysts' CNY25.79 billion. It expects core revenue to increase 26% to 39% year over year. The guidance, Baidu said, doesn't include potential contribution from the acquisition of YY Live.

AUTONOMOUS DRIVING: Baidu completed phase I of the smart transportation project in Guangzhou, which includes the deployment of Apollo V2X smart road infrastructure and Apollo Mobility as a Service, the compamy said.

Baidu has also disclosed a partnership with auto maker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to produce electric cars.

PANDEMIC: Company officials had pointed to an advertising turnaround. On Wednesday, Robin Li, co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement: "Baidu ended 2020 on a solid note with our business benefiting from improving macroeconomic environment and the digitalization of industrial Internet. "As we enter 2021, Baidu is well positioned as a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation to seize the huge market opportunities in cloud services, autonomous driving, smart transportation, and other AI opportunities. We also hope to capitalize on our huge Internet reach with more non-marketing services."

Herman Yu, chief financial officer, said: "Through years of investment in research, AI chip design, developer community, patents and talent development, we are turning AI into innovative use cases. For example, Baidu AI cloud differentiating with AI solutions grew 67% year over year in Q4, reaching an annualized run rate of US$2.0 billion."

Shares of Baidu increased 2.7% to $316.99 in after-hours trading.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2021 17:05 ET (22:05 GMT)

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Baidu Projects 26%-39% Increase in Core Revenue in 1Q Earnings Review - Morningstar.com