Meituan's Profitability Likely Remained Under Pressure in 1Q -- Earnings Preview

Dow Jones
Jun 01
 

By Tracy Qu

 

Meituan is scheduled to report results for the first quarter on Monday. Here's what you need to know:

 

NET PROFIT FORECAST: The Chinese food-delivery company is expected to swing to a net loss of 8.51 billion yuan, equivalent to $1.26 billion, according to the consensus estimate of analysts polled by FactSet. Meituan, which reported a 10.06 billion yuan profit in the year-earlier period, has reported losses for two straight quarters.

 

REVENUE FORECAST: Revenue for the three months ended March 31 is estimated at 90.76 billion yuan, according to FactSet, up from 85.56 billion yuan a year earlier.

The company's Hong Kong-listed shares fell about 20% in the first three months of the year, weighed by investors' concerns about its earnings outlook. The stock was down 26% in the year to Friday, compared with the Hang Seng Tech Index's 11% decline.

 

WHAT TO WATCH:

--PROFIT: Meituan's food-delivery business is likely to post narrower losses in the near term, but its recovery path might be bumpy, Nomura analysts said in a research note. The segment's operating loss is likely to narrow on quarter for 1Q, Nomura says. The loss per order is likely to have narrowed to 1.3 yuan in the first quarter, compared with 1.94 in 4Q, they note. That said, visibility over the earnings outlook remains relatively low due to "fluid regulatory and competitive environment", the analysts said.

--COMPETITION: Morningstar's Chelsey Tam expects rival Alibaba Group to prioritize investments in artificial intelligence over quick commerce, as it is unlikely to be able to maintain high investments in both segments in the medium term, she said in a research note. This could benefit Meituan's quick-commerce segment and could offer more clarity on the timing of its earnings recovery, she added.

 

Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 01, 2026 00:22 ET (04:22 GMT)

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