The China-based company favored a pre-recorded demo rather than a live one
Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) is throwing its hat in the artificial intelligence (AI) ring with Ernie Bot, a software similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The product's language and math skills have so far failed to impress, however, after the tech concern featured only a pre-recorded demonstration during its unveiling instead of interacting with it in real time. CEO Robin Lee said high demand prompted the company to introduce the bot before all kinks are worked out, but 650 companies are already signed up to use it.
Last seen up 0.2% to trade at $133.35, BIDU earlier slipped below long-term support at the 80-day moving average. The security has pulled back from its Feb. 7, one-year high of $160.88, and yesterday snapped a three-day win streak. Baidu stock now carries a 14.6% year-over-year deficit.
The brokerage bunch remains firmly bullish toward the security, with 11 of the 13 analysts in question calling it a "strong buy," while the 12-month consensus target price of $179.59 is a 37.6% premium to current levels.
Drilling down to today's options activity, 4,919 calls and 3,174 puts have already crossed the tape, which is triple the intraday average. Most popular is the March 130 call, followed by the 125 put in the same monthly series, both of which will expire at the close tomorrow.