BABA, BIDU and PDD: Can China’s Tech Titans Weather the Storm?

China’s new five year-plan, laid out during a meeting of Communist Party officials in October, emphasizes technological self-reliance, with commodities vital to the global technology supply chain — such as rare earths and advanced chips — serving as flashpoints in ongoing Sino-US trade tensions. Meanwhile, slowing domestic demand, high debt and US tariffs brought growth to its lowest pace in a year in Q3. 

Elsewhere, investor concerns around inflated valuations and an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble are causing equity selloffs around the world, and East Asian markets saw foreign investors retreat from positions at the sharpest pace in seven months, Bloomberg reported on November 14. While analysts such as Van Eck’s Anna Wu are calling the short-term pullback “healthy”, Chinese tech firms remain in the spotlight, with investors keen to see if they can deliver on the promise of AI advances like DeepSeek. 

As Q3 earnings season winds down, a closer look at three Chinese tech giants sheds some light on where the world’s second-largest economy is faltering, and where it stands to gain. In this analysis, we’ll review the most recent earnings reports for Baidu [BIDU] and PDD Holding [PDD], and examine what analysts expect for Alibaba’s [BABA] upcoming earnings. 

Baidu

“China’s Google” had a head start in the country’s AI race, pivoting from search and advertising to develop both large language models and chips intended to improve the country’s AI self-sufficiency. More recently, however, the tech giant has begun to lose ground to prominent competitors, including ByteDance and Alibaba.

It has also failed to make waves with recent AI advances, showcasing the sky-high expectations of investors. Shares plummeted on November 14 after their most recent AI model, Ernie 5.0, failed to impress — even though the model is reportedly on par with DeepSeek and OpenAI’s GPT-5. 

The company released its Q3 earnings pre-market on November 18, marginally beating both top- and bottom-line estimates. Total revenue fell 7.1% to RMB31.17bn, with online advertising revenue down 21%; the company recorded a net loss of RMB11.23bn. This softness was offset by impressive growth in AI-related and cloud revenue, however, up 50% to RMB10bn, representing a third of total revenue. 

The company also unveiled two new chips for AI inference and training, set to hit markets in the next two years, and has begun international expansion efforts for its Apollo Go Robotaxi service, with recent agreements with Uber [UBER] and Lyft [LYFT].

A number of big investors remain bullish on BIDU stock. On November 11, Cathie Wood reportedly purchased over 14,000 shares in total, spread across her ARK Innovation ETF [ARKK] and ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF [ARKQ]. Mad Money host Jim Cramer also seems bullish on the stock, with many China tech names trading well below historic highs.

The stock had been trading below or around $100 in 2025 prior to early September, when an extended rally pushed it to a 52-week high of $146.50. As of November 18, BIDU stock was trading at $117.14, up 38.94% in the year to date and up 38.5% in the past 12 months.

PDD Holdings

US-China trade tensions have been front and center in the Temu owner’s earnings reports this year. The latest filing, however, released before markets opened in the US on November 18, emphasized the impact of competition in its home market. 

The company recorded 9% year-over-year in Q3 revenues, a healthy but subdued figure compared to its usual double-digit performance. Profitability was strong, however, with adjusted EPS of RMB21.08 topping analyst estimates of RMB16.84. 

PDD has been engaged in cut-throat competition with e-commerce rivals Alibaba and JD.com [JD] in the domestic market, deploying price cuts and subsidized promotions to woo customers despite slumping demand, shaky job security and a weak property market. In the earnings call, PDD co-CEO Zhao Jiazhen emphasized that growth may fluctuate in the coming quarters. Spending on merchant support programs and platform upgrades will continue as the company tries to put itself ahead of competitors. 

Temu’s global expansion, meanwhile, has hit roadblocks, with the end of the “de minimis” exemption in the US and increased duties on low-cost packages in the EU representing a blow to the platform’s trade in cheap goods. Such risks are unlikely to diminish in the near term, co-CEO Chen Lei emphasized in the earnings call. “Today, with a rapid evolution of trade barriers, we are seeing a significant shift in the regulatory environment for the global business. We will inevitably face greater challenges and uncertainties.” 

The 11 analysts surveyed by Stockanalysis.com gave PDD stock a consensus rating of ‘buy’, with an average price target of $131.73 representing an upside of 10.16%.

PDD stock is up 23.29% year-to-date and up 4.89% in the past year as of November 18.

Alibaba

Alibaba is holding its own against Baidu and PDD on both the tech and the e-commerce front, with its aggressive pivot to AI earlier in the year. 

On November 18, Alibaba rolled out an app version of its AI-powered Qwen chatbot, designed to compete with US rivals such as ChatGPT or xAI’s Grok. Initially available in China, the app will be launched internationally later in the year. The app is largely an update of the previous Tongyi chatbot, and some investors have raised concerns that the company is not keeping pace with its AI rivals. 

Additionally, Alibaba has not managed to avoid the geopolitical headwinds plaguing its peers. A White House memo dated November 1 claimed the company was helping the Chinese military conduct “operations” against US targets, reportedly providing access to customer data, including payment records, IP addresses, AI-related services and software vulnerabilities. While the company has denied the allegations, increased political pressure in the US could see it delisted from US stock exchanges. 

Not everyone is concerned, however. Cathie Wood has been scooping up BABA shares in November — some 157,731 across three of her ETFs.

Alibaba will report its Q3 earnings on November 25. According to Yahoo Finance, the average EPS estimate is RMB5.78, with quarterly revenue around RMB243.2bn.

BABA stock is up 91.56% in the year to November 18, and up 83.33% in the past 12 months. 

Here are how the fundamentals of the three companies compare: 

Source: Yahoo Finance

While all three companies appear cheap compared to their fundamentals, weak consumption and intense competition may weigh on each in the short term. Baidu and Alibaba have both boasted impressive AI-related revenue in recent quarters, and they are well positioned to benefit from China’s ongoing push for technological self-sufficiency. PDD Holdings, meanwhile, offers the most upbeat growth estimates, though the long-term sustainability of consumer subsidies remains a key question going forward. 

Conclusion

China’s focus on AI as a growth driver is key to the recent performance of Baidu and Alibaba. The question is whether either giant can maintain a rate of innovation rapid enough to impress increasingly skeptical investors. PDD Holdings, meanwhile, faces the double test of intense domestic competition and increased regulation abroad, although expansion in key international markets could allow it to continue its growth trajectory.