Baidu Reports Q4 Earnings Beat, Shares Tank On Grim Q1 Outlook Due To Coronavirus

Baidu Inc. BIDU reported its earnings for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2019 on Thursday.

What Happened

The Chinese internet giant posted total revenue of about $4.1 billion, up 6% from the $3.9 billion posted in the similar quarter last year and 3% higher than the previous quarter's total revenue of $4 billion.

Baidu shareholders earned $3.79 per share, up 98% YoY from 2018 third quarter's EPS of $1.92 and 110% higher than the second quarter's $1.8 EPS.

The earnings beat the analyst estimate of $3.66 by 3.4%.

Net income attributable to the company increased a whopping 205% from last year's $297 million to $905.8 million.

"We finished 2019 making tremendous progress in strengthening Baidu's mobile ecosystem," the company's CEO Robin Li said in a statement.

"Baidu new AI businesses have also made great strides in 2019, as we built leadership in smart devices, smart transportation and enterprise cloud solutions with Baidu's leading AI technologies," he added.

What's Next

Baidu said it expects the revenue for the first quarter of 2020 to be between $3 billion and $3.3 billion, a YoY decline of between 5% and 13%.

"The Coronavirus situation in China is evolving, and business visibility is very limited. The above forecast reflects Baidu's current and preliminary view, which is subject to substantial uncertainty," the company said.

Other companies, including Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Apple Inc. AAPL, and Tesla Inc. TSLA have similarly downgraded their guidance for quarters impacted by the coronavirus.