Chinese Officials Getting More Friendly with Baidu (BIDU) -Piper Jaffray

Analysts at Piper Jaffray, including Gene Munster, issued a research report on Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) this morning. Piper maintains its Buy rating and $180 price target on shares of Badiu.

The firm brings up a recent meeting hosted by the China Consumer Society in which officials "had supportive comments related to China search engines, suggesting the government is adopting more favorable position towards Baidu." Piper is referring to recent news that Chinese officials were reportedly cracking-down on certain Internet sites with "unhealthy content".

Specifically, Piper notes that the Secretary of the China Consumer Association admitted that "search engines will be a driving force in China's economic development process". Although the comment is only one data point, the firm believes this sentiment is a change from regulators prior perspective, and "provides some favorable ground to the future regulation in search engines in China."

Shares of Baidu are currently trading at session lows, but are up 0.7% to $114.89.

Baidu, Inc. provides Chinese language Internet search services primarily in the People's Republic of China.

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