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(Reuters) – Chinese search engine operator Baidu Inc. on Thursday announced lower-than-expected earnings for the first quarter and a quarterly expected business figure lower than estimates, sending its stock down 8 %.
Revenues from its online marketing services business, which accounts for a large share of total revenue, grew by almost 3 percent to 17.66 billion yuan (2.57 billion US dollars), but did not reach the estimate of $ 2.66 billion, according to research firm FactSet.
"Despite government policies to improve market conditions for SMEs, we anticipate that online marketing will face a challenging environment in the near term," said Herman Yu, chief financial officer.
Baidu expects a business turnover of 25.1 billion yuan for the second quarter to 26.6 billion yuan, while analysts expected 29.30 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv's IBES data.
The company announced a net loss attributable to shareholders of 327 million yuan (47.51 million US dollars) in the first quarter ended March 31, compared to a net profit of 6.69 billion yuan a year earlier.
Excluding the items, the company gained 2.77 yuan per US depository share, less than the 2.89 yuan estimate per ADS.
Total revenues increased 15.4 percent to 24.12 billion yuan (3.50 billion US dollars). Analysts on average expected a turnover of 24.16 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv's IBES data.
(Report by Akanksha Rana at Bengaluru and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai, edited by Anil D & # 39; Silva)
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