As long as Meituan Dianping is posting operating losses, any revenue figure that beats analyst estimates is irrelevant.
That’s what happened late Monday. Fourth-quarter revenue of 19.8 billion yuan ($2.95 billion) surpassed even the highest of expectations, yet operating loss almost tripled to 11.1 billion yuan.
Now that it’s a public company, the Chinese provider of food delivery, hotel bookings and restaurant-management systems needs to focus on tightening margins and boosting the bottom line.