Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) reported on its fourth quarter late Tuesday, yielding better-than-expected results.
Throughout its fiscal 2017, the Chinese search engine topped expectations during every period and its fourth quarter was no exception as the company earned RMB 5.8 billion ($884 million), a 104% improvement compared to the year-ago quarter.
Baidu’s adjusted earnings were RMB 6.9 billion ($1.05 billion), a 78% gain compared to the year-ago quarter. The figure came in at RMB 14.90 per share ($2.34 per share), topping analysts’ expectations of RMB 13.38 per share ($2.11 per share), according to Thomson Reuters.
Revenue was strong as well, rising 29% compared to the year-ago quarter and coming in at RMB 23.56 billion ($3.72 billion), ahead of the Wall Street consensus estimate of RMB 23.053 billion ($3.64 billion), per Thomson Reuters.
Part of Baidu’s quarterly improvement came as the company has been focusing more on advancing its artificial intelligence (AI) development and improving its mobile search optimization. A couple of successful spin-offs helped the company streamline operations into AI and several other projects.
One such spin-off was Baidu Deliveries, while its mobile game businesses was also separated from the main company.
“Entering 2018, we plan to continue our strategy to exit non-core businesses and increase investments in Baidu’s mobile and new AI businesses, which we believe play to Baidu’s strengths as a technology leader and will sow the seed for Baidu’s future growth in autonomous driving and conversational AI, particularly in the home environment,” said CFO Herman Yu.
BIDU stock popped 4.2% after the bell Tuesday.