UPDATE: Brean Capital Upgrades Baidu as Mobile Transition is Taking Shape

In a report published Wednesday, Brean Capital analyst Fawne Jiang upgraded the rating on Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) from Hold to Buy, and named a $200.00 price target.

In the report, Brean Capital noted, “We upgrade our rating on BIDU to Buy from Hold. We are encouraged by the solid progress the company has made and believe its investment in mobile starts to bear fruit, evidenced by the increasing revenue contribution from mobile in the past quarters. With aggressive investment and strong execution, the company has built a comprehensive product offering in mobile through both internal R&D and strategic acquisitions. While still at an early stage, we believe the strong product penetration (e.g. search, map, game, app distribution) bodes well for the company's long-term growth. Furthermore, as mobile revenue continues to ramp up, the gap between investment and revenue will start to close out with potential margin stabilization down the road. As such, we upgrade our rating on Baidu to Buy with a price target of $200, implying 27x our 2014 EPS estimate of $6.90 (plus $13.09 net cash/share).”

Baidu closed on Tuesday at $159.41.