I think investors looking at Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU) and thinking "Buy, Dude" are gonna end up saying "Dude, where's my money?" I just don't see how this is going to turn out well for the Baidu.com longs.

Rick describes Baidu.com as "extremely profitable." I think we have different opinions of what that phrase means. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), with nearly $1 billion of trailing-12-month net income, is extremely profitable. Baidu.com, with net income of $3 million over the same period, is not.

Yes, with a bottom line in the black, Baidu.com is a viable business. Just not one that warrants a $2.5 billion market cap.

I think the comparisons to Google and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) are a bit premature. Search engine companies don't really have any lasting competitive advantages. Anyone remember Altavista or Lycos? They used to be really popular and now they're essentially footnotes in Internet history. Who's to say Baidu.com won't join them? Just because Baidu.com is the market-share leader in China right now does not mean it will always be that way. Google itself has a very meaningful second-place share and could topple Baidu.com. Or it may be some company we've never heard of. That's what happens in industries like this.

I am a die-hard Rule Breaker investor. It's in my blood. I love a good high-tech growth story as much as anyone else, and Baidu.com is certainly a good story. But hopes and dreams are not enough. The numbers have to add up, and in the case of Baidu.com, they don't.

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Fool biotech analyst Charly Travers does not have a position, long or short, in any company mentioned in this article. The Fool has a disclosure policy.