<div class="article-main-body row" data-use-autolinker="true" data-component="lazyloadImages" data-lazyload-images-options="{"skip_invisible":false,"threshold":200}"><figure class="image pull-none image-full-width"> <div class="article-main-body row" style="text-align: left;" data-use-autolinker="true" data-component="lazyloadImages" data-lazyload-images-options="{"skip_invisible":false,"threshold":200}"><figure class="image pull-none image-full-width">BEGGING: Baidu has reported its latest performance of first quarter, including revenue of $2.203 billion and GAAP earnings per share of $1.79. It was expecting the Chinese company would earn $1.69 per share on revenue of $2.22 billion. Excluding the costs of share-based compensation, Baidu earned $1.90 per share (non-GAAP).</figure><figure class="image pull-none image-full-width">The company, which fell nearly 2 percent in regular trading, is off another 1.7 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s operating profit in the quarter of $638.6 million was up 17.4 percent on a year-over-year basis. Its revenue figure was up a sharper 52.0 percent compared to the year-ago period. Nearly all of Baidu’s revenue comes from its online marketing income, which totaled $2.188 billion in the quarter. Baidu is best known for its online search property. Baidu spent $283.8 million in traffic acquisition costs in the quarter, or 12.9 percent of its total revenues. That percentage figure is up from its year-ago comparable statistic of 11.2 percent. Investors seem to not know what precisely to do with Baidu shares after the report. The after-hours chart shows a bit of indecision: Looking ahead, Baidu expects its revenue to expand to between $2.256 billion, and $2.322 billion. Those figures represent a roughly 45 to 50 percent improvement in its calendar fourth quarter of 2013, the comparable period. The company did not guide on profit. Trading for around $224 per share, Baidu has been increasing in value nearly steadily since the middle of 2013. The company went public in 2005 with revenue in the single-digit millions per quarter. The company executed a stock split in 2010, which brought its share price down from more than $700. Since then, its shares have tripled in value. The company is worth north of $80 billion. </figure></div> <p style="text-align: left;"></p> </figure></div>