SINA Corp : StockCall Study: China's Huge Internet Market Offers Major Opening to Baidu and SINA
02/11/2013| 08:05am US/Eastern
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LONDON, February 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
In 2008, China overtook U.S. as the world's biggest Internet market. In the next four
years, China's Internet market has more than doubled. The Chinese Internet market is
expected to continue to grow at a robust pace this year, offering significant
opportunities to companies such as Chinese language search engine provider Baidu.com Inc.
(ADR) (NASDAQ: BIDU) and online media company SINA Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA). StockCall free
coverage on Baidu and SINA is available upon registration at
http://www.stockcall.com/register
The World's Biggest Internet Market
In June 2008, Internet users in China hit 253 million, which helped the country
overtake the U.S. as the biggest Internet market. Since then China's Internet market has
grown at a robust pace, more than doubling its size by June 2012.
According to data from China Internet Network Information Center's (CNNIC) 30th
Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, released in September last year,
China had 538 million Internet users by the end of June 2012. Internet penetration rate
reached 39.9% by the end of June 2012. While 538 million Internet users is a huge number,
the fact that less than half of China's population still has Internet access suggests that
there is scope for further growth.
The CNNIC report showed that China had 146 million rural Internet users by the end of
June 2012, which is an encouraging sign.
The robust growth in China's Internet market is expected to continue in 2013, with the
CNNIC forecasting that the country's Internet population will hit 718 million by 2013.
This presents significant opportunities to companies such as Baidu.com and SINA. Download
the free technical research on SINA by signing up at
http://www.StockCall.com/SINA021113.pdf
China's Biggest Search Engine
Baidu.com is China's biggest search engine provider, with around 60% of the market
share. Earlier this week, the company had reported robust fourth quarter financial
results. Register now and get access to the free analysis on Baidu.com at
http://www.StockCall.com/BIDU021113.pdf
BIDU's total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012 was $1.017 billion, up 41.6% over
the same period in the previous year. For the full year 2012, the company had revenue of
$3.58 billion, up 53.8% over 2011.
Robin Li, Chairman and CEO of Baidu, noted that revenue growth and profitability
maintained a healthy trajectory in 2012 as the company continued to invest aggressively in
developing a comprehensive ecosystem. Li said that in 2013, the company will be stepping
up its investments and increasing its sales and marketing efforts to ensure it captures
the huge opportunities ahead.
The challenge for Baidu.com will be to adapt as more and more Internet users in China
shift to mobile. According to CNNIC report, in the first half of 2012, the percentage of
mobile Internet users rose to 72.2%. With smartphones and tablet sales expected to grow at
a robust pace in China, mobile Internet users are expected to rise.
Opportunities for SINA
SINA, which operates the micro-blogging site Weibo.com, is looking to capitalize on
the increase in mobile microblog users in China. According to data from CNNIC, mobile
microblog users rose from 137 million at the end of 2011 to 170 million by the end of
2012.
It will be interesting to see how well SINA is monetizing Weibo when the company
reports its quarterly results later this month.
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SOURCE StockCall.com
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