- In the third quarter of 2025, Meituan reported revenue of CNY 95,488.11 million, up from CNY 93,577.32 million a year earlier, but swung from net income of CNY 12,864.70 million to a net loss of CNY 18,632.45 million.
- This move from profit to loss, despite higher sales, highlights how rising costs and investment spend are weighing heavily on Meituan’s profitability profile.
- We’ll now examine how Meituan’s shift from profit to a sizeable quarterly loss affects its previously margin-focused investment narrative.
Find companies with promising cash flow potential yet trading below their fair value.
Meituan Investment Narrative Recap
To own Meituan, you need to believe its huge on-demand ecosystem and user base can eventually convert scale into sustainable, cash-generative margins. The Q3 2025 swing to a CNY 18,632.45 million loss, despite higher revenue, directly challenges the near term margin-repair catalyst and reinforces the biggest risk right now: structurally higher costs from competition and investment that could keep profitability volatile.
The recent update on Meituan’s ongoing share buyback, with CNY 5,224.80 million spent repurchasing 42,305,400 shares since August 2024, is particularly relevant in this context. It shows management continuing to return capital even as quarterly earnings turn negative, which some investors may see as a vote of confidence while others may question given the current pressure on net income and margins.
But while scale and diversification can be appealing, the surge in subsidies and courier incentives is a risk investors should be aware of because...
Read the full narrative on Meituan (it's free!)
Meituan's narrative projects CN¥496.8 billion revenue and CN¥48.4 billion earnings by 2028. This requires 11.3% yearly revenue growth and about CN¥18.9 billion earnings increase from CN¥29.5 billion today.
Uncover how Meituan's forecasts yield a HK$129.65 fair value, a 35% upside to its current price.
Exploring Other Perspectives
Simply Wall St Community members offer 11 fair value estimates for Meituan, ranging widely from HK$83.35 to HK$318.35, underlining how far apart views on upside really are. Against that backdrop, the latest quarterly loss despite rising revenue brings the risk of persistent margin compression into sharper focus and gives you a clear reason to compare multiple viewpoints before deciding what Meituan’s long term earnings power might look like.
Explore 11 other fair value estimates on Meituan - why the stock might be worth 13% less than the current price!
Build Your Own Meituan Narrative
Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.
- A great starting point for your Meituan research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards that could impact your investment decision.
- Our free Meituan research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Meituan's overall financial health at a glance.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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