A sputtering economy, implosions at financial institutions, or just plain bad management -- on any given day, investors can name a number of reasons to sell a stock. Yet, while panic is never beneficial to investors, it's good practice to play devil's advocate with investments from time to time.

In Motley Fool CAPS, more than 130,000 members have weighed in on more than 5,300 stocks, sharing bullish and bearish opinions alike.

In the case of Chinese search king Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), a total of 3,585 members have weighed in on its chances of success. I've already plucked out some of the bullish rationale backing Baidu today, so here are three counterpoints to consider, courtesy of CAPS:

Foreign risk: While Baidu isn't one of China's state-owned companies like PetroChina or China Mobile (NYSE:CHL), the company operates in a business and social environment far different from that of the U.S. Over the past year, it's had to mount a defense on numerous issues, such as government charges related to vulgar content and an accusation of questionable advertising practices from a Chinese TV network that also fingered Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Sohu.com's (NASDAQ:SOHU) Sogou.

Decelerating growth: Compared to the previous quarter, Baidu's operating margin dropped 7% as revenue took a hit from losing some unlicensed advertisers, pushing earnings to miss analyst expectations. Its first-quarter sales guidance also missed analyst forecasts, leaving some investors unconvinced that this is the bottom for Baidu, as the economy could wreak further havoc on advertisers.

Weak Chinese advertising: The global crisis has significantly affected advertising revenue for U.S. media giants like News Corp. (NYSE:NWS) and Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), and Chinese internet portal SINA (NASDAQ:SINA) is offering a weak and uncertain outlook as well. Baidu expects many of its customers to continue to be affected by weak macro conditions, which some investors believe will last longer than many anticipate.

Of course, Baidu has survived and thrived despite dozens of obstacles in the past. But the question about whether the company can beat the high expectations placed on it is why CAPS is such a great resource to augment your own analysis.

To see what the very best CAPS members are saying now about Baidu, just click on over to Motley Fool CAPS and have a look -- it's all free, and even open to your opinion.

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