Replies to post #424374 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[marketmaven]

NSS CHRONICLES: INut Valuations "Off the Chart"
(Banerjee is a refreshing change from Bambi pumper)

Baidu.com sinks on valuation call
Piper Jaffray analyst calls valuation "off the chart"
By Scott Banerjee, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:54 AM ET Sep 14, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Shares of Baidu.com Inc. plunged more than 20% Wednesday morning as analysts at Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray began coverage of the Chinese search firm with "underperform" ratings due to concerns about its valuation.

Elsewhere, Internet stocks were largely mixed a day ahead of Google Inc.'s expected $4 billion secondary stock offering.
U.S-listed shares of Baidu (BIDU) fell 23% to $91.03 in early morning dealings. The stock had gained more than 35% during the previous three trading days after analysts at J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley offered optimistic outlooks on Chinese Internet stocks. "Baidu's current stock price has far exceeded even the most aggressive valuations and is distinctly 'off the chart' in our view," wrote Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy in a note to clients. The analyst set a $45 price target on the stock.

Goldman Sachs analyst (shill) Anthony Noto values the stock at around $27, with the broker's most optimistic assessment of an implied value for the company of about $45. See full story. Goldman, along with Credit Suisse First Boston, lead-managed Baidu's IPO earlier this month, while Piper Jaffray was a co-manager for the offering.

Among other Chinese Internet stocks, Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (SNDA) shares lost 4.8% to $29.11 while 51Job Inc. (JOBS) shares also lost 1.5% to $14.21.
In morning trades, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPQ) was down 7 points to 2,164.51.

Google (GOOG), which saw its shares rise fractionally to $312.11 in morning trades, will offer about 14.159 million shares in the secondary offering Thursday morning. Despite the increased supply of Google stock expected by the offering, shares of the Internet firm have been trading up in recent days.

Ebay Inc. (EBAY) shares slid 1.5% to $37.71 a day after CIBC analyst downgraded its shares following its planned acquisition of Skype Technologies SA.

Shares of Cnet Networks Inc. (CNET) and RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK) rose fractionally in early morning trades.

Scott Banerjee is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.