CITIC SEC: Maintains a "buy" rating on BIDU-SW (09888), expecting the company's AI-related revenue to continue to increase.

CITIC Securities released a research report stating that it maintains a "buy" rating on BIDU-SW (09888). The firm believes that the overall valuation of the company is still outstanding, and it continues to be optimistic about the company's fundamental recovery, incremental opportunities from AI, autonomous driving businesses, and ongoing cost reduction and efficiency improvement processes, with performance expected to significantly improve by 2025. CITIC pointed out that the company's performance in 4Q24 was better than expected overall, with the cloud business performing above expectations and Baidu Core's operating profit margin showing resilience under operational efficiency optimization. In the medium term, with the introduction of AI empowering multiple business lines, cloud business focusing on scenarios and cost optimization, the company is expected to see continuous growth in AI-related revenue.