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Technology Stocks
Baidu (BIDU)
An SI Board Since July 2005
Posts SubjectMarks Bans Symbol
2077 90 0 BIDU
Emcee:  Frank Sully Type:  Moderated
Baidu was the most frequently used search engine in China in 2004, according to a survey by Shanghai iResearch Co., and was the second-largest Web site in China in terms of user traffic during the three months ended July 18, according to Alexa.com. Net income for the three months that ended in March was $303,000, more than double compared with the same period a year ago.

There are likely more good times ahead, since China's Internet market is growing at a fast clip: according to iResearch, the number of Internet search users in China is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 27.5% from 2005 to 2007.

"This company has a growth opportunity that's going to be seen by investors as enormous," says Paul Bard, an analyst with Renaissance Capital LLC in Greenwich, Conn. "And I'm sure what people are going to say is, wow, this could be what Google was three years ago."

Even Google appears to think the company is a good investment: The U.S. search engine owns 2.6% of Baidu, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and isn't listed among the entities that plan to sell their stakes in the IPO.

The IPO is to be underwritten by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, Credit Suisse Group's Credit Suisse First Boston and Piper Jaffray Cos., and will trade in the form of American depositary shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol BIDU.

Baidu is selling 3.7 million shares to the public, a 12% sliver of the 31.7 million shares that will be outstanding after the offering. The company's executives, directors, and venture-capital firms will continue to own substantial stakes in Baidu after it goes public.

(from The Wall St Journal)

Goldman Sachs is lead underwriter and it is expected to begin trading at $19-$20. Here is their website.

baidu.com

*******************************************************************************

Update: August 1, 2021

In recent years Baidu has invested heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) and has become China’s leading AI company. This is described in CEO’s excellent 2020 book, which I highly recommend. For the current state of affairs see the seven minute video below.

Book: “Artificial Intelligence Revolution: How AI Will Change Our Society, Economy, And Culture” by Baidu CEO Robin Li

Video: “Baidu: How China Became The World Champion In AI”



Baidu Is No Longer A Search Engine Play, But An AI Bet

Message 33435306

Baidu is invested heavily in AI search engines (obviously), autonomous vehicles, Baidu Brain and has a $2 billion AI chip subsidiary.



Self-driving vehicles: Message 33420466 Message 33420467
  • BAIDU: Apollo Robotaxi “Robocar” Autonomous Driving(Driverless) _ Baidu World 2021 _ CCTV (16 minute video)


Baidu Brain: Message 33420592
AI Chips: Message 33420330 Message 33420330
  • BAIDU: "Kunlun" Baidu's 2nd-generation AI Chip_Baidu World 2021_ CCTV p Message 33447433
Risks: The major risks of investing in Baidu have to do with it being a Chinese company listed on the NASDAQ.

Risk 1: China regulation: From tech to education investors-corner.bnpparibas-am.com

Risk 2: Chinese tech stocks slump as U.S. SEC begins rollout of law aimed at delisting mobile.reuters.com

Risk 3: Invest in China, but Without Illusions nytimes.com

AI in general:

For a comprehensive discussion of AI and AI companies in general, see the Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation board moderated by my friend Glenn Petersen. Subject 59856


Deep Learning:

Modern AI is based on Deep Learning algorithms. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning, which is essentially a neural network with three or more layers. These neural networks attempt to simulate the behavior of the human brain—albeit far from matching its ability—allowing it to “learn” from large amounts of data.

Deep Learning algorithms for AI. The first one-hour video explains how this works. Amazingly, it is just least squares minimization of the neural network loss function using multi-dimensional Newton Raphson (gradient descent). See second one half hour video. Who thought Calculus would come in handy?

1. MIT Introduction to Deep Learning



2. Gradient Descent, Step-by-Step



Math Issues: Optimizing With Multiple Peaks Or Valleys




A problem with gradient descent optimization is that it can find minima of functions as well as maxima of functions. Worse, there can be multiple peaks and valleys, so more properly gradient descent finds local extrema. One is interested in machine learning, e.g., in global minima. This makes the problem considerably more difficult. This is particularly true since loss functions for deep learning neural networks can have millions or even billions of parameters.

Another problem has to do with the size of the data sets used to train deep learning neural networks, which can be huge. Since gradient descent is an iterative process, it becomes prohibitively time-consuming to evaluate the loss function at each and every data point, even with high-performance AI chips. This leads to stochastic gradient descent: the loss function is evaluated at a relatively small random sample of the data at each iterative step.

Stochastic Gradient Descent:



Recent Earnings History:


Baidu EPS beats by RMB1.71, revenue in-line
seekingalpha.com

Baidu EPS beats by $0.33, beats on revenue, guides Q3 revenue in line with consensus

seekingalpha.com
Baidu climbs after Q1 beats driven by non-marketing sales gains

seekingalpha.com
Baidu gains on strong Q4 profit, upside sales forecast

seekingalpha.com
Baidu -1.6% after Q3 report shows positive revenue growth, deal for JOYY China streaming

seekingalpha.com
Baidu -5.4% as revenues flag, SEC probes iQiyi

seekingalpha.com
Baidu +9.7% as income jumps on milder revenue drop

seekingalpha.com

Further updates will be provided as deemed necessary.
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ReplyMessage PreviewFromRecsPosted
2077Baidu posts flat second-quarter revenue as sluggish economy slowed advertising sRon-August 22
2076China's Robotaxi Surge news9live.comFrank Sully-August 16
2075 Baidu climbs after Beijing proposes draft rules for robotaxis - report Jul. 10Julius Wong1July 10
2074 Baidu robotaxis draw complaints from human drivers as service gains popularity Ron-July 9
2073A nice surge in BIDU today... volume, MACD and Stochastics... didn't see anyRon-July 9
2072Baidu Earnings: Baidu reported earnings of 19.91 Chinese yuan ($2.76) a shareRon-May 16
2071Tough-Talking Baidu PR Chief is Out After Remarks finance.yahoo.comRon-May 9
2070Tesla to adopt Baidu Maps V20 smart navigation system in China autonews.gasgoo.cRon-April 29
2069Baidu’s loss-making autonomous-driving project Apollo will focus on generatingRon-April 19
2068We'll see what happens with earnings on May 16th...Ron-April 17
2067i am sitting with large losses in both baba and baidu. thankfully I am still solMadharry-April 16
2066Baidu says chatbot Ernie AI has amassed 200 million users reuters.comRon-April 15
2065Alababa's Moonshot AI narrows gap with Baidu's Ernie Bot scmp.comFrank Sully-April 10
2064UBTECH and Baidu Robotics - 2 1/2 Minute Video HUMANOID Robotics merge with BaiFrank Sully-April 6
2063DJ Can Apple and A.I. Make Baidu Cool Again? -- WSJ | Dow Jones By JackRon1March 31
2062Apple Held Talks With China’s Baidu Over AI for Its Devices iPhone maker may neeRon-March 22
2061Forget NVIDIA - 2 AI Stocks which are cheaper and are not in a Bubble - Meta &amFrank Sully-March 5
2060Chinese tech giant Baidu ( BIDU) early Wednesday posted fourth-quarters resultRon-February 28
2059Baidu might be most 'underappreciated' player in AI Feb. 22, 2024 2:48 Julius Wong1February 22
2058Baidu driverless taxis continue to spread in China. Beijing latest city where thRon1January 24
2057Baidu denies report linking the company's Ernie AI to Chinese military reseaRon-January 15
2056China AI stocks drop in US market on speculation about Chinese military linking Ron-January 12
2055Baidu’s bet on AI could make or break China’s fallen tech group Issues with leaGlenn Petersen1January 5
2054Baidu Terminates $3.6B Deal to Buy JOYY’s China Live-Streaming Business As of tSr K-January 1
2053Baidu's ChatGPT-like Ernie Bot has more than 100 million users -Chief TechnoRon-12/28/2023
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