Baidu's (NASDAQ:BIDU) stock rose about 2% premarket on Thursday after first quarter results beat estimates.

Meanwhile, several other Chinese stock were in the green, Alibaba (BABA) +1% JD.Com (JD) +5%, and NetEase (NTES) +2%.

The company's core online marketing revenue remained stable, while its AI Cloud revenue grew during the quarter.

Baidu's non-GAAP earnings per American depositary share, or ADS, rose 24% year-over-year to RMB19.91, $2.76. Meanwhile, total revenue rose 1% year-over-year to RMB31.51B, or $4.37B. Both top and bottom line surpassed analysts estimates.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, revenue fell 10% wherein it generated RMB34.95B, or $4.92B.

"Baidu Core's online marketing revenue remained stable, while the end-to-end optimization of our AI technology stack continued to propel the growth of our AI Cloud revenue during the quarter," said Baidu's Co-founder and CEO Robin Li. "We are making our ERNIE family of models increasingly affordable and efficient. This should provide Baidu with even greater opportunities ahead.

The company's generative artificial intelligence, or AI, chat tool Ernie Bot has seen over 200M users. The number for the last quarter was 50 million, according to Baidu.

Baidu also launched several lightweight large language models, or LLMs such as ERNIE Speed, ERNIE Lite, and ERNIE Tiny, in the first quarter to make it more affordable.

First quarter revenue from Baidu Core rose about 4% year-over-year to RMB23.80B, or about $3.3B. Quarter-over-quarter it fell, as fourth quarter revenue had amounted to RMB27.5B, or $3.87B.

Online marketing revenue grew 3% year over year to about RMB17 ($2.36B) ($2.70B), while non-online marketing revenue was RMB6.8B ($935M), up 6% year over year, mainly due to AI Cloud business.

Baidu's CFO Rong Luo noted that the company has established a track record of consistently improving operational efficiency.

"In the coming quarters, we will execute on what is needed to optimize our operational efficiency in support of our AI enabled businesses and high-quality growth, and maintain a healthy non-GAAP operating margin," said Luo.

The Chinese internet search giant said that in March 2024, Baidu App's Monthly Active Users, or MAUs, reached 676M, up 3% year over year.

Online entertainment service iQIYI (IQ) saw revenue decrease by 5% year-over-year to RMB7.9B, or $1.10B. Baidu owns a majority stake in the company.

Stock Buyback: Baidu said it bought back shares worth $229M since the start of the first quarter of 2024, bringing the cumulative buyback to $898M under the 2023 share repurchase program.

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