[ET Net News Agency, 6 October 2020] Huatai Research raised its target price for
Meituan Dianping (03690) to HK$299 from HK$230.2 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house believes that Meituan continues to enhance its leadership position as
China's most popular online life-services platform. Its food-delivery business recovered
strongly from the COVID-19 impact and Huatai expects heavy user traffic to supports its
growth into greater-value-added life-services categories.
By investing in supply-chain capabilities, Meituan is addressing a trillion RMB
potential market that can support its long-term growth, Huatai said. The research house
raised its 2020/21/22 revenue forecasts by 2.8%/3.7%/7.6% to reflect the rapid ramp-up of
its new initiatives business. It also raised its adjusted net profit estimate by 115% for
2020 to factor in profitability improvements and accordingly by 8/9% for 2021/22. (KL)