Baidu posts 87 percent profit gain, shares jump

By Sophie Taylor and Dai Wakabayashi

SHANGHAI/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Baidu.com Inc (BIDU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), China's top search engine, said its quarterly profit rose 87 percent and forecast another surge in revenue, boosted by Internet traffic growth from the Beijing Olympics, driving its shares up more than 13 percent in after-hours trading.

Beijing-based Baidu posted April-June profit of 265 million yuan ($38.6 million) versus 141.9 million yuan a year earlier, beating the average expectation for $35.5 million from 8 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

"We expected a strong June quarter and it definitely delivered," said Colin Gillis, Internet equity research analyst at Canaccord Adams, who has a "sell" rating on Baidu.

Baidu's stock, which rose more than 30 percent in the quarter, closed down 1.25 percent at $288.70 on Wednesday before the results were announced. In extended trading, Baidu shares rose to $327.08.

In the near-term, Baidu will continue to focus on three main areas: rolling out better search services, improving its monetization capability and expanding its customer base.

"We feel we are still not satisfied with the monetization capability we have, our traffic is still much higher than our market share," Chief Executive Robin Li told analysts in a conference call.

April-June revenue doubled to 802.6 million yuan ($117 million) from 401.3 million yuan a year earlier.

Baidu forecast revenue in the current quarter in a range of 905-935 million yuan ($132-$136 million), up 82-88 percent from a year earlier. Analysts, on average, forecast third-quarter revenue of $135.76 million, according to Reuters.