It looks like Baidu’s stock (BIDU) is going to quickly become a battleground. On Friday I noticed that I got a few hits from people searching for how to short an IPO. It’s probably a good thing for those folks that with a float as small as BIDU’s they probably won’t be able to locate any shares to borrow. Mind you, I’m not saying that the stock isn’t wildly over-valued. What I am saying is that shorting it right now while the mania is still raging could be very painful. I’ll galdly wait until the stock is in a downtrend before I even think about trying to short it.

Here’s a good post by Bill Bishop, who was involved in MarketWatch’s IPO, on the Baidu mania and why Baidu should be pissed at their bankers. The money quote (emphasis is mine):

It is however a terrific marketing event. Who in the world doesn’t now think Baidu is China’s Google, even though Google is still really China’s Google?

Baidu’s first day of trading is actually quite scary. The valuation is so out of whack with the company’s underlying fundamentals as to make you wonder whether we are approaching another speculative top. Either way I plan to short Baidu as soon as I can get shares, assuming the price is anywhere near Friday’s close.