Shares of the Chinese AI company, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) were on an upswing in pre-market trading at the time of publishing on Tuesday as the company announced Q1 adjusted earnings of $2.34 per ADS, an increase of 43% year-over-year and surpassing consensus estimates of $1.76 per ADS.
The company’s revenues in the first quarter grew 10% year over year to $4.54 billion and beat analysts’ expectations of $4.32 billion.
Baidu’s management stated in its press release that the company plans to integrate the ERNIE bot across all its businesses. Rong Luo, CFO of Baidu commented, “Non-GAAP operating margin of Baidu Core expanded to 23% in the quarter, up from 17% in the same period last year and 21% in the previous quarter, driven by our ability to leverage our operations effectively.”
Analysts remain bullish about BIDU stock with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 14 unanimous Buys.
