Chinese search engine Baidu nearly triples net income

China’s leading Web search engine on Thursday reported its third-quarter net profit nearly tripled compared to the same time last year as it added customers for its online marketing services.

Baidu.com said its net income in the three months ending September 30 rose to 8.5 million renminbi ($1.1 million as of the end of the period being reported), compared to 2.9 million renminbi during the same time last year. The company’s revenue more than doubled to 88.9 million ($11 million) renminbi.

The company’s net income minus the cost of stock-based compensation was 19.3 million renminbi.

But the company’s stock plunged to $68.37 in after hours trading from $81.05 at the close of normal Nasdaq market hours after the third-quarter results were released. Some analysts have argued the shares are overvalued and, with earnings growth not keeping up with other Internet high fliers such as Google, were ready to fall.

By comparison, Google last week reported its net income rose sevenfold to $381 million during the third quarter from $52 million in the same quarter last year.

Baidu’s expenses also rose as it built a new data center in Beijing to support higher Internet traffic, and spent more to attract new users, the company said in a statement.

But it also said its name awareness increased thanks to its public stock listing on the Nasdaq in August, when its shares more than quadrupled from their offering price to close at $122.54 on their first day of trading.

In the fourth quarter, the company expects its revenue to come in at a range from 102 million renminbi to 106 million renminbi, which would be over a 200 percent increase from the same time in 2004.