The Week

iQIYI (IQ) tumbled 21.85% this week, closing at $1.055, while the S&P 500 slipped 1.43%. The stock underperformed the benchmark by roughly 20.42 percentage points. The week played out as a sharp sell-off that only stabilised on the final day: Monday (17 Aug) opened at $1.35 and edged down to $1.33; Tuesday (18 Aug) saw the heaviest pressure after earnings, with the stock dropping to $1.23. Losses continued into Wednesday (19 Aug) and Thursday (20 Aug), when the price hit an intraweek low of $1.015 – its weakest level in nearly two months. Friday (21 Aug) brought a modest bounce to $1.055. Weekly amplitude reached 25.56%, and average daily volume of roughly 8.4m shares ran about 40% above the median, signalling a pronounced spike in turnover.

Key Events

The week was dominated by iQIYI’s second-quarter earnings. On Tuesday, the company reported Q2 FY26 results: revenue fell 5% year-on-year to RMB 6.29 billion, and net loss widened to RMB 287.5 million. Non-GAAP EPADS came in at -$0.02, missing the consensus estimate by $0.01. The top- and bottom-line miss triggered a sell-off that extended through the following two sessions. On the earnings call, management highlighted sequential revenue improvement and AI-driven content expansion as factors supporting profitability and global reach, offering a partial operational offset. No material corporate filings were released during the week.

Analyst Ratings

Twenty brokers cover iQIYI: 7 rate it buy, 2 rate it overweight, 10 rate it hold, and 1 rates it sell. The consensus recommendation is ‘buy’ with a consensus target of approximately $1.397, implying an upside of about 32.4% from the current price of $1.055. The target range is wide, from a low of $0.501 to a high of $2.541, reflecting deep disagreement about the pace of earnings recovery. iQIYI ranks 8th out of 42 peers in the ‘movies and entertainment’ industry, placing it in the upper-middle tier by broker sentiment.

The Week Ahead

With the earnings shock still settling, next week shifts to macro data. On Tuesday (25 Aug), the US releases the FHFA house price index, Case Shiller home price indices, consumer confidence, and new home sales. A resilient macro picture could influence risk appetite for Chinese ADRs. Stock-specific attention will centre on whether the market begins to price in the sequential revenue improvement flagged by management, or whether the widened loss continues to weigh on sentiment.

In Short

iQIYI suffered a concentrated sell-off this week after a second-quarter earnings miss, with the stock dropping more than 20% and significantly underperforming the broader market. The latest session’s fund-flow snapshot shows large-lot money tilting towards net selling, aligning with the price weakness. Valuation sits at a low level – the price-to-book ratio is roughly 0.55x. The broker picture is cautiously constructive: the consensus is buy and the target implies over 30% upside, but the wide spread between high and low targets underscores the uncertainty around earnings visibility. The story going forward is whether the market can find a new equilibrium between a narrowing loss trajectory and the promise of AI-led content efficiencies.

This article is generated by LongbridgeAI from market data, for information only and not investment advice.