Baidu’s Stock Surges on Analyst Hype – A Skeptic’s Take

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Baidu’s stock moved like a cobra striking at dawn. Eleven percent-clean, sharp, and smelling of desperation. The S&P 500 slumped like a drunkard in a back alley, but Baidu’s ADRs? They danced. Analysts, those alchemists of spreadsheets, had lit the fuse. Two upgrades in two days. A double-barrel shotgun blast to a market already bleeding.

Bet on Baidu, says analyst

Thomas Chong of Jefferies raised his price target from $108 to $157 like a gambler shuffling a deck with a loaded gun. “Buy” he said, as if the word could buy his way out of a paper bag. His logic? Baidu’s AI ambitions. A company that’s “embraced AI fully and rapidly,” he claimed, as though speed alone could offset the stink of vaporware.

Partnerships with “large companies” on AI? A magician’s parlor trick. Cloud revenue? A mirage that evaporates when you blink. And that Kunlun chip? A glamour project with the subtlety of a neon sign in a coal mine. Chips don’t sell stocks. Profits do. But who’s counting the pennies when the music’s still playing?

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One big bump

Chong’s cheerleading might’ve gone unnoticed if Richard Kramer hadn’t thrown his hat into the ring the day before. Kramer, of Arete, upgraded Baidu from “sell” to “buy” with the zeal of a man who just discovered fire. $143 per ADR-his new target. A number that glows like a casino sign at midnight. But markets are fickle lovers. They sleep with the hype, wake up to the math.

The dance goes on. Analysts spin tales. Traders chase the glitter. And Baidu? It’s a stage set, all lights and no substance. The Kunlun chip, the AI cloud, the “strategic partnerships”-they’re just the furniture in a house of cards. Blow hard enough, and the whole thing collapses into a pile of receipts and regrets. 🎯

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2025-09-18 02:52