On September 1, MEITUAN-W fell 3.04% in regular trading, trading at HK$76.35, with turnover of HK$1.206 billion. Despite a strong Q2 earnings beat days earlier, selling pressure emerged as Barclays maintained its underweight rating and US$10 target price, dampening post-results optimism.

Barclays slashed its adjusted EBITDA forecast by 54.5% to RMB 7.8 billion, noting that while core local commerce operating margin turned positive at 7.9% after three consecutive quarters of losses, it remains far below the approximately 20% level seen before the subsidy war. The bank flagged that Q2 sales and marketing expenses exceeded its estimate by 38.6%, and adjusted net profit of RMB 2.5 billion came in 41.1% below its projection. The cautious stance underscored concerns that structural competitive changes have permanently lowered MEITUAN-W's profit ceiling.

The broader Internet and Direct Marketing Retail sector also traded weaker, with BABA-W down 3.24%, JD-SW down 2.58%, and JD HEALTH down 1.10%.

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