UPDATE: Jefferies Upgrades Baidu Following Strong 3Q13 Results, 4Q Guidance

In a report published Wednesday, Jefferies analyst Cynthia Meng upgraded the rating on Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) from Hold to Buy, and raised the price target from $153.00 to $222.00.

In the report, Jefferies noted, “3Q13 revenue and earnings beat Street with strong 4Q guidance. Our checks indicate increasing mobile search demand and incremental mobile ad budget from Baidu's customers. We believe Baidu's new product launches and strong monetization capability will deliver further revenue upside. We revise up FY13/FY14 revenue est. by 2.1%/4.8%. Upgrade to Buy with PT revised up to US$222 based on 25x forward FY15 PE.”

Baidu closed on Tuesday at $159.41.