Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Baidu managed to deliver an all-around in the last quarter beat despite the fact that its financial performance was impacted by a challenging environment because of a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases as well as its impact on the broader economy.</li><li>Both feeds distributed through the Baidu app and mobile search queries continued experiencing double-digit growth in the quarter.</li><li>Baidu is expected to launch Ernie Bot, its new conversational AI bot, powered by its latest in-house large language models, to counter ChatGPT.</li></ul>

Baidu managed to deliver an all-around in the last quarter beat despite the fact that its financial performance was impacted by a challenging environment because of a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases as well as its impact on the broader economy.Both feeds distributed through the Baidu app and mobile search queries continued experiencing double-digit growth in the quarter.Baidu is expected to launch Ernie Bot, its new conversational AI bot, powered by its latest in-house large language models, to counter ChatGPT.

Baidu Inc.: Ernie Bot As An Aftermath Of The ChatGPT Effect? Check Out The Key Drivers

China/Asia TMT

Shawn Yang

China growth and global non-US Internet equities

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Blue Lotus Research is a Hong Kong Type 4 Licensed investment advisory firm focusing on Chinese growth equities and global non-US Internet equities

<ul>
<li>Baidu delivered 4Q22 results with top line beating cons. by 3.2% and non-GAAP net income beating cons. by 13.4%. </li>
<li>We expect both its ads and AI cloud businesses to recover with accelerated pace, which could partially offset the increase of R&amp;D investment in AI related technologies.</li>
<li>Reiterate BUY rating and slightly raise TP to US$ 172 to reflect the on-track recovery and AIGC synergy. Our TP implies 17.9x PE in 2023.</li>
</ul>


Baidu delivered 4Q22 results with top line beating cons. by 3.2% and non-GAAP net income beating cons. by 13.4%. 
We expect both its ads and AI cloud businesses to recover with accelerated pace, which could partially offset the increase of R&amp;D investment in AI related technologies.
Reiterate BUY rating and slightly raise TP to US$ 172 to reflect the on-track recovery and AIGC synergy. Our TP implies 17.9x PE in 2023.


[Baidu (BIDU US) Target Price Change]: Margin Improvement Offsets R&D Increase

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Positive to PDD: Temu aired its commercial at the Super Bowl</li>
<li>Negative to FUTU: Bright Smart Securities downsizing the mainland account</li>
<li>Positive to BIDU: Updates on Baidu's ChatGPT-similar product "ERNIE Bot"</li>
</ul>


Positive to PDD: Temu aired its commercial at the Super Bowl
Negative to FUTU: Bright Smart Securities downsizing the mainland account
Positive to BIDU: Updates on Baidu's ChatGPT-similar product "ERNIE Bot"


China TMT Update(Feb.11-14): PDD, FUTU, BIDU

<ul>
<li>We estimate that Baidu’s 4Q22 top line/bottom line would miss cons. by (1.6%)/(3.1%), mostly driven by the temporal disturbance of increasing COVID cases after reopening in Dec. 2022. </li>
<li>However, we remain optimistic about 2023 outlook: 1) Baidu’s ads would be recovering quickly in 1H23 as macro improves, and 2) leading position in AIGC development gives Baidu more potential.</li>
<li>Maintain BUY rating and raise TP to US$170, implying 17.2X PE in 2023</li>
</ul>


We estimate that Baidu’s 4Q22 top line/bottom line would miss cons. by (1.6%)/(3.1%), mostly driven by the temporal disturbance of increasing COVID cases after reopening in Dec. 2022. 
However, we remain optimistic about 2023 outlook: 1) Baidu’s ads would be recovering quickly in 1H23 as macro improves, and 2) leading position in AIGC development gives Baidu more potential.
Maintain BUY rating and raise TP to US$170, implying 17.2X PE in 2023


Baidu (Bidu.US): AIGC to Bring More Potential and Empower Search Biz

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hesai-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36743:1" rel="noopener">Hesai Group (HSAI US)</a> (HSAI) raised around US$190m in its US IPO.</li>
<li>HSAI is a manufacturer of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (Lidar) solutions. It has shipped over 103,000 Lidar units from 2017 to the end of 2022.</li>
<li>We have looked at the company’s past performance and valuations. In this note, we will talk about the trading updates.</li>
</ul>



Hesai Group (HSAI US) (HSAI) raised around US$190m in its US IPO.
HSAI is a manufacturer of three-dimensional light detection and ranging (Lidar) solutions. It has shipped over 103,000 Lidar units from 2017 to the end of 2022.
We have looked at the company’s past performance and valuations. In this note, we will talk about the trading updates.


Hesai Group IPO Trading - Managed to Break the Drought

China

Baidu, Inc. operates an Internet search engine. The Company offers algorithmic search, enterprise search, news, MP3, and image searches, voice assistance, online storage, and navigation services. Baidu serves clients globally.

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Baidu (BIDU US)

Baidu Inc.: Ernie Bot As An Aftermath Of The ChatGPT Effect? Check Out The Key Drivers

Baidu managed to deliver an all-around in the last quarter beat despite the fact that its financial performance was impacted by a challenging...

Baptista Research

[Baidu (BIDU US) Target Price Change]: Margin Improvement Offsets R&D Increase

Reiterate Baidu BUY rating and slightly raise TP to US$ 172 to reflect the on-track recovery and AIGC synergy. Our TP implies 17.9x PE in 2023.

Blue Lotus Research Institute

China TMT Update(Feb.11-14): PDD, FUTU, BIDU

PDD: Temu aired its commercial at the Super Bowl; FUTU: Bright Smart Securities downsizing the mainland account; BIDU: Updates on Baidu's ChatGPT...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Baidu (Bidu.US): AIGC to Bring More Potential and Empower Search Biz

We remain optimistic about Baidu’s 2023 outlook: 1) Baidu’s ads would be recovering quickly in 1H23 as macro improves, and 2) leading position in...

Blue Lotus Research Institute

Hesai Group IPO Trading - Managed to Break the Drought

Hesai Group (HSAI US) raised around US$190m in its US IPO. We have looked at the company's performance in our previous note, in this note we will...

Sumeet Singh

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