Investing In Baidu To Bet On Artificial Intelligence

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) is one of the main companies that are trying to build a strong position in the promising market of artificial intelligence. In this article, I explain why I think investing in Baidu can be also a good way to gain exposure to AI. Artificial Intelligence offers a large number of functions that can strengthen Baidu's current businesses, but also gives the company the possiblity to exploit "new" markets such as autonomous driving and AI applications for financial services and healthcare. I have been long Baidu more or less for 3 quarters but the stock hasn't gained much since I started my position. The market is still scared by the weak performance of the company's non-core divisions, while the recent need to adjust advertising practices has weighed on sales in the short-term. The core search market, despite a rise in revenue per customer, suffered from a reduction in the number of customers as a result of stricter regulations for online advertising.