Why Baidu Inc. Rallied This Morning

While Fools should generally take the opinion of Wall Street with a grain of salt, it's not a bad idea to take a closer look at particularly stock-shaking upgrades and downgrades -- just in case their reasoning behind the call makes sense.

What: Shares of Baidu popped 2% in pre-market trading after Goldman Sachs upgraded the Chinese Internet search giant from neutral to buy.

So what: Along with the upgrade, analyst Piyush Mubayi boosted his price target to $220 (from $160), representing about 27% worth of upside to Friday's close. While value investors might be turned off by Baidu's strong return over the past year, Mubayi thinks there's plenty of room to run given its strengthening position in new segments, as well as its rapidly progressing mobile monetization.

Now what: Goldman now expects Baidu to post non-generally accepted accounting principles operating margin of 39% in 2014. "Its investments in the past years, while costly, have earned Baidu a leading position in map services and location-based technology," Mubayi noted. "Moreover, mobile search monetization is progressing fast. By 4Q13, we estimate that 20% of Baidu's search revenues will come from mobile, leading to operating leverage against a relatively fixed cost structure." When you couple that bullish view with Baidu's strong balance sheet and reasonable PEG of 1.3, it's tough to disagree with Goldman's upgrade.

More compelling ways to grow
They said it couldn't be done. But David Gardner has proved them wrong time, and time, and time again with stock returns like 926%, 2,239%, and 4,371%. In fact, just recently one of his favorite stocks became a 100-bagger. And he's ready to do it again. You can uncover his scientific approach to crushing the market and his carefully chosen six picks for ultimate growth instantly, because he's making this premium report free for you today. Click here now for access.

The article Why Baidu Inc. Rallied This Morning originally appeared on Fool.com.

Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Baidu. The Motley Fool owns shares of Baidu. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2014 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.