CLSA Lifts Baidu Price Target to $176, Citing AI Cloud Acceleration and Profit Recovery

CLSA raised its price target for Baidu (BIDU) from $160 to $176, maintaining an Outperform rating, driven by expectations of accelerating cloud growth and profit recovery.

• The broker forecasts the company’s cloud business growth will accelerate to 20% this year, driven by broadened AI applications.
• CLSA noted that core 4Q25 results are expected to be affected by the AI search transition, though the decline in total revenue should narrow.
• Recent personnel optimization measures are expected to support profit recovery throughout 2026.