Is it Still a Wise Choice to Invest in Baidu?

Horos Asset Management, an investment management firm, published its first-quarter 2022 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. Since the inception of Horos (May 21, 2018), Horos Value Internacional has returned 22.3%, below the 55.2% gain of its benchmark, while Horos Value Iberia has returned 8.1%, outperforming the 0.5% return of its index. Moreover, since 2012, the returns of this management team stand at 199% for the international strategy and 167% for the Iberian strategy, compared to 219% and 67% in their benchmark indices, respectively.  Try to spend some time taking a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to be informed about their best picks for 2022.

In its Q1 2022 investor letter, Horos Asset Management mentioned Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) and explained its insights for the company. Founded in 2000, Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) is a Beijing, China-based multinational technology company with a $52.9 billion market capitalization. Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) delivered a 1.71% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -25.32%. The stock closed at $151.34 per share on June 24, 2022.

Here is what Horos Asset Management has to say about Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) in its Q1 2022 investor letter:

“Although the initial reaction of the Chinese government was passive, it seems that the blacklist published by the SEC, which already includes companies as important as the technology giant Baidu, has shaken things up. Thus, at the beginning of April the CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) announced possible changes in its regulation that would allow this inspection by foreign auditors, provided that the companies previously communicate to this body the state secrets that would be exposed, as well as the sensitive information that they might have to hand over, and the subsequent audit is carried out in a framework of collaboration with the CSRC. In short, a move in the direction desired by the SEC, although still far from the optimal result, that is, unrestricted access to information.

While these negotiations between the two regulatory bodies are progressing, Chinese companies have to decide how best to preserve their interests. In this regard, some companies are already listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, as is the case of the three major technology companies (Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Baidu).”

Our calculations show that Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) fell short and didn’t make it on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) was in 47 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2022, compared to 38 funds in the previous quarter. Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) delivered a 3.28% return in the past 3 months.

In June 2022, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) in another article. You can find other investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2022 Q1 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.