HSBC Slashes Price Targets On Alibaba, Baidu Due to China's Covid Surge, Regulatory Crackdown

HSBC analyst Charlene Liu cut the price target on Baidu Inc BIDU to $180 from $195 (31.3% upside) and kept a Buy rating on the shares.
The analyst now assumes a worse impact from COVID-19 on the company's core ad and cloud businesses and margins, seeing a recovery only in Q4.
Liu reduced the price target on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA from $168 to $156 (49.3% upside) and maintained a Buy.
Also Read: Here's Why Alibaba's Stock Didn't Get a Boost Despite Big Share Buyback
China just cracked down upon abuse of algorithms by internet giants and questioned Alibaba and others over their job cuts.
Benchmark and Citi analysts also slashed their price targets on Alibaba to reflect China's Covid induced disruption.
The dwindling fortunes of the Chinese tech shares recently prompted concerns over the Alibaba stake selloff by SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY SFTBF.
Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 0.74% at $105.04 on the last check Friday.