The IPO of “Chinese Google” Baidu.com is reminiscent of the glory days of 1999. MarketWatch.com reports that the stock, which was priced at $27, opened at $66 and closed the day at $122, a single-day gain of more than 350%. As can be expected, there are plenty of cheerleaders like this columnist, who writes that “Baidu’s charts show a rocket-ship trajectory that many investors want to hitch their wagons to” and points to estimates that search-advertising in China is expected to quadruple to $690 million by 2007.

A reality check: At its offer price, Baidu.com was valued at 42 times its net revenue for the previous year. At the day’s closing price, Baidu.com trades at 190 times revenues. Such nosebleed valuations leave no room for error. Long-term investors will stay away from this stock, considering the long list of risks associated with a small .com operating in a far-away market.