(Yicai Global) Nov. 23 -- Shares in Baidu advanced today after the Chinese internet giant reported a 14 percent surge in operating profit, which refers to profit from its core businesses, in the third quarter from a year ago, marking the first quarterly growth since the second quarter last year. The turnaround was fueled by a gradual recovery in online marketing and the steady growth of its artificial intelligence-powered businesses.

Baidu’s Hong Kong-traded shares [HKG:9888] were trading up 3.6 percent at HKD93.20 (USD12) as of 2 p.m. China time today. In the US, its stock [NASDAQ:BIDU] inched up 0.5 percent to close at USD95.08 apiece yesterday.

Baidu logged a 16 percent jump in net profit to CNY5.9 billion (USD824.5 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, according to the Beijing-based company’s latest financial report released yesterday, which did not follow generally accepted accounting principles.

Revenue advanced 2 percent over the period to CNY32.5 billion (USD4.5 billion), according to the report. Baidu’s heavy investments in AI and intelligent autos are paying off as its core non-advertising revenue surged 25 percent. No performance forecast was given.

“Looking ahead, we expect out mobile ecosystem to continue generating strong cash flow and fund our investment in AI cloud and intelligent driving, which will help maintain our leadership in the AI business and drive long-term business growth,” co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Robin Li said at the earnings call.

Baidu is managing to successfully commercialize its smart auto solutions. It signed CNY11.4 billion (USD1.6 billion) worth of contracts in the third quarter. It has also deepened cooperation with one of China’s largest auto tech companies, which intends to install Baidu’s Apollo Navigation Pilot, Automated Valet Parking and HD Maps software in a popular car model.

Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service, completed 474,000 rides in the third quarter, more than quadruple that of a year earlier and a gain of 65 percent from the previous quarter. The world's biggest driverless taxi service provided over 15 rides per day on average in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Baidu bought back USD272 million of shares in the third quarter, bringing the cumulative repurchase to USD3.2 billion under its 2020 Share Repurchase Program.

Editor: Kim Taylor