Morgan Stanley analysts upgraded shares of Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) to Overweight and raised the price target to $190 per share from the prior $160.
Baidu offers the best AI exposure of all Chinese stocks, says Morgan Stanley.
“We expect AI to drive business transformation with improving productivity and efficiency via higher IT spending and faster cloud adoption, with Baidu gaining cloud market share given its AI capabilities,” the analysts said in a client note.
China’s AI evolution is at “an inflection point” with Baidu seen as “the best play to capture the $7.4 trillion AI internet opportunity."
“We see 12% upside to our 2025 core revenues in our AI-enabled scenario. Near-term regulatory approval could be a catalyst,” they added.
Following the upgrade, Baidu is now the second pick after Alibaba (NYSE:BABA).