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QIHU

QIHOO 360 Technology Co. Ltd.

5/19/2013, 11:39 PM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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| On the move

Wednesday, May 15, 12:21 PM Qihoo (QIHU +2.6%) rallies after Sohu CEO Charles Zhang dampens M&A speculation. Shares had previously slumped on reports Qihoo is in talks to buy Sohu's Sogou search engine (competes with Qihoo's so.com search engine) for $1.4B. Qihoo's Q1 report arrives on May 20. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Monday, May 13, 10:13 AM Sohu (SOHU +2.5%) pops on Chinese media reports it's set to sell its Sogou search engine to Qihoo (QIHU -2.5%) for $1.4B. However, Sohu CEO Wang Xiaochuan has denied deal rumors; past reports have claimed Baidu and Tencent are also in the running. With Sohu still only having a market cap of $2.4B, it looks like many investors are skeptical (Sogou makes up less than 12% of Sohu's revenue). Qihoo (and for that matter, Baidu) would have to do a lot of heavy lifting to integrate Sogou with its own search engine. Comment! [Tech, On the Move, M&A]
Wednesday, May 8, 1:10 PM A recent Chinese government proposal to allow local investors to buy stocks traded elsewhere could give a lift to "companies familiar to them," argues Stifel. The firm mentions Baidu (BIDU +3.3%), Qihoo (QIHU +2.1%), Youku (YOKU +1.2%), and Tencent (TCEHY.PK - trades in HK) as beneficiaries. All 3 U.S.-traded names are rallying, as are YY (YY +8.9%), Sohu (SOHU +5.1%), Perfect World (PWRD +1.6%), and Changyou (CYOU +3.1%). Youku fell yesterday after Baidu confirmed it's buying video site PPS, and will integrate it with its iQiyi site. Baidu claims PPS/iQiyi will create China's largest Web video platform in terms of mobile users and viewing time. 1 Comment [Tech, On the Move, Quick Ideas]
Monday, May 6, 11:04 AM Qihoo (QIHU +7.3%) will be able to "generate material search revenues in the coming quarters," with the majority eventually coming from its own ad sales efforts rather than via Google, says Maxim's Echo He in a note lifting shares to new highs. He admits Google could do a better job of monetizing Qihoo search than Qihoo itself over the near-term, but sees the company's sales investments paying off long-term. Qihoo's relatively low capex (it has a 2013 budget of $70M-$80M) also sits well with He. (Barclays) (Google deal) Comment! [Tech, On the Move, Quick Ideas]
Friday, April 26, 5:51 PM "Mobile monetization is distant, macro conditions do not warrant aggressive pricing inflation, and online video is competitive," writes Goldman on Baidu (BIDU -7.9%), following its Q1 miss. The firm thinks surging SG&A and traffic acquisition costs will lead op. margin to fall to 39% in 2013 from 50.5% in 2012. Brean (downgrading to Hold) and Barclays also aren't confident about near-term mobile monetization. On the earnings call, CEO Robin Li admitted mobile ad prices, though "growing nicely," remain below PC prices. Rival Qihoo (QIHU -0.3%), which may have contributed to Baidu's 6.5% Q/Q drop in revenue per ad customer, was nearly unchanged. 3 Comments [Tech, Earnings, On the Move]
Friday, April 19, 5:49 PM 8 months after Qihoo (QIHU) encroached on Baidu's (BIDU) turf by launching a search engine, Baidu is returning the favor by launching PC antivirus software meant to compete with Qihoo's 360 Safeguard and Anti-Virus apps, which are deployed on hundreds of millions of Chinese PCs. Just as Qihoo has attacked the authenticity of Baidu's search results, look for Baidu to exploit criticism of Qihoo's practices. A government agency recently denounced Qihoo for making uninstalls difficult and tricking users into thinking they're installing a Microsoft patch, among other things. 2 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, April 17, 11:30 AM Qihoo (QIHU +3.2%) rallies after Barclays' Alicia Yap starts coverage with an Overweight and $38 PT. Yap is optimistic about improving search ad revenue as Qihoo ramps its salesforce, mobile opportunities fueled by Qihoo's popular security software and app store, and margin expansion (eventually reaching 40%). Thus far, Qihoo shares have spent 2013 digesting their big 2H12 gains. Comment! [Tech, On the Move, Quick Ideas]
Tuesday, April 2, 1:39 PM Baidu's (BIDU +1.8%) Chinese search share stood at 70.5% as of March 20, down from 71.5% at the end of 2012, estimates T.H. Capital. Qihoo (QIHU -1.4%), by contrast, is believed to have grown its share to 13.5% from 10.4% over this time. Nonetheless, the firm thinks Baidu's page views and unique visitors respectively grew 0.9% and 0.6% in Q1, which it thinks could bode well for Q1 revenue. Separately, Sina Tech reports Baidu is working with Qualcomm (QCOM) on a Google Glass-like product called Baidu Eye. (Citi report) 1 Comment [Tech]
Thursday, March 28, 12:28 PM Baidu's (BIDU -0.9%) paid click growth fell to 20%-21% Y/Y in Q4 '12 after growing 64% in 2012, estimates Citi's Muzhi Li. In addition to share losses to Qihu (QIHU) and Sohu's (SOHU) Sogou, Li thinks Alibaba's shopping search growth is taking a toll. He's also concerned Chinese Web user growth will slow, even though penetration is only at 42% - 77% of Chinese non-Web users responding to a survey showed no interest in going online. Baidu's PC search paid clicks and ad prices (CPCs) are respectively expected to rise 12% and 17% in 2013; total 2012 CPC growth is pegged at 21%. 4 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, March 20, 10:57 AM Solid earnings from Tencent (TCEHY.PK) and a rally in Shanghai help Chinese Internet stocks trade higher. YOKU +3.8%. SINA +2.8%. QIHU +2.5%. SOHU +1.8%. YY +1.8%. NTES +1.5%. PWRD +1.7%. Tencent, which rose 1.5% in Hong Kong, reported a 53% Y/Y increase in Q4 sales to $1.96B, and a 37% increase in net income to $557M. Ad sales were better than expected, and value-added service sales (includes online games) rose 32%. Registered accounts for Tencent's WeChat mobile IM platform, which competes with Sina's Weibo, have topped 300M. Comment! [Tech, On the Move, Earnings]
Wednesday, March 6, 10:14 AM Sell on the news: Qihoo (QIHU -6.9%) is now off sharply post-earnings, albeit still up from Friday's close. Jefferies has cut shares to Hold: while noting Qihoo's strong revenue guidance, the firm is worried about weak margin guidance and a marketing spend ramp. It's also cutting its 2013 search revenue forecast by 12% to $100M. On the earnings call, management stated its mobile monetization efforts will be focused on games rather than ads over the near-term, and declared its Mobile Assistant marketplace the most popular Android app store in China. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, March 6, 9:10 AM Premarket gainers: PRAN +13%. PBR +12%. CYTX +9%. PPHM +8%. GEVO +8%. MTG +8%. TSL +8%. HNR +7%. BIG +7%.PBR.A +6%. PAY +5%. WPRT +5%.
Losers: AVAV -25%. TFM -11%. AEO -9%. SOHU -8%. QIHU -5%. NBG -5%. Comment! [On the Move]
Tuesday, March 5, 5:27 PM More on Qihoo: Q1 guidance is for revenue of $104.5M-$106.5M, above a $92.7M consensus. MAUs for Qihoo product/services totaled 456M in, +3% Q/Q and +13% Y/Y. Browser MAUs totaled 310M, +2% Q/Q and +22% Y/Y. Mobile security users hit 207M, up nearly 4x Y/Y. Daily visitors to 360 home page +2% Q/Q, daily clicks flat. Ad revenue +49% Y/Y and 65% of total, value-added services (mostly games) +105%. Opex +104% Y/Y to $82.6M (partly due to search investments). QIHU -1.3% AH following a 6.3% gain in regular trading. CC at 7:30PM ET (webcast). (PR) Comment! [Tech, Earnings]
Tuesday, March 5, 5:02 PM Qihoo 360 Tech (QIHU): Q4 EPS of $0.22 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $103M (+65% Y/Y) beats by $9.32M. (PR) Comment! [Earnings, Breaking News, Tech]
Tuesday, March 5, 2:04 PM Qihoo (QIHU +4.7%) makes new 52-week highs ahead today's Q4 report; shares are now up 14% since last Tuesday's close. In addition to T.H. Capital, Maxim Group has been singing the company's praises: last week, the firm argued strong Q4 traffic and sales volume for Chinese e-commerce sites (they make up ~50% of Qihoo's ad sales) bodes well. Shares now trade at 32x 2013E EPS. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Tuesday, March 5, 12:10 AM Notable earnings after Tuesday’s close: AVAV, JMBA, MCEP, NTRI, PAY, QIHU, SSW, SWHC, VNET Comment! [Earnings]