Well today is the day that shares of Baidu (BIDU) are trading higher than Google (GOOG). After this whole story with China broke and Google’s pain became Baidu’s gain, I didn’t think it would take this this long until shares of Baidu were trading higher than Google… Well as of pre-market today when Google announced they are almost 100% certain they will be pulling out of China, the shares are down about 2% to 569, and Baidu up about 4% to 572. I understand that Baidu is a growth story and they are expected to grow 2010 earnings 50% over 2009, but I am not going to shake a stick at the 18% Google is expected to grow; not to mention that is well baked into the share price based on current levels of PE ratios. I am not going to say short one and buy the other, but it feels a bit like 1999 and if I had to choose one to own here, I would most definitely buy Google. However I will say that both can be owned as a pair trade. I have traded both Baidu and Google multiple times, but currently do not own Baidu in my investment portfolio.
