Did the company provide guidance or outlook for the upcoming quarters, and how might that affect the stock's valuation relative to competitors?

iQIYI’s Q2‑2025 release did include forward‑looking guidance. The company reaffirmed its expectation to reach ¥12‑13 billion in revenue for FY2025, with Q3 revenue projected at ≈¥3.2 billion, and it signaled a mid‑single‑digit increase in average monthly paying users (AMPUs) versus Q2. Management also highlighted a steady 5‑7 % improvement in subscription‑ARPU and an ongoing cost‑efficiency program that should lift EBITDA margins to roughly 14 % by year‑end. By laying out a clear earnings trajectory and a disciplined expense plan, iQIYI is giving investors a concrete baseline against which to price the stock.

Relative to its domestic peers—Tencent Video, Youku and Bilibili—the guidance positions iQIYI as the most optimistic on subscriber growth while still promising margin expansion. Competitors have been more cautious, with Youku only forecasting modest revenue growth and Bilibili warning of higher content spend. This divergence should compress the valuation gap: iQIYI’s forward‑P/E, which was trading around 12‑13× after the release, is likely to narrow toward the 10‑11× range of the higher‑growth peers as investors price in the stronger top‑line outlook and improving profitability. From a technical standpoint, the stock broke above its 50‑day EMA and is testing the $6.40 resistance level; a close above that zone with volume confirming could trigger a short‑term rally toward the 200‑day EMA around $7.10, while a failure would see it retest the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $5.80. In summary, the explicit guidance bolsters iQIYI’s fundamentals, narrows its discount to peers, and creates a bullish short‑to‑intermediate trading setup if the price sustains the breakout.