A Meituan Dianping delivery man delivers take-out food on September 20, 2018 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Analysts are urging investors to stay away from shares of Meituan Dianping, with the company's stock in the doldrums since its initial public offering last September. In fact, one firm sees more than 30 percent downside for Meituan Dianping's stock from its current levels. In a note published March 19, analysts at China Tonghai Securities initiated coverage with a price target of 34.33 Hong Kong dollars per share — that's more than 31 percent lower than the stock's closing price on Wednesday. "We initiate coverage of Meituan Dianping (MTDP) with a non-consensus Sell rating, as the market does not appear to be fully discounting the negative knock-on effects from the escalating competitive pressures across its segments and dependence on subsidies which result in a longer-than-expected turnaround," the analysts said.

I wouldn't recommend to buy the stock at the moment before i can see much better operation(s) data Jackson Wong associate director at Huarong International Securities

Others, who did not have a price target for the company selling online services from food delivery to ticketing, said the company is difficult to value. "I think Meituan Dianping is hard to value because it isn't profitable, and its losses are widening," Leo Sun, tech and consumer goods specialist at The Motley Fool, told CNBC in an email. "I wouldn't necessarily call it 'overvalued' at less than 4 times last year's sales, but it could certainly go lower if it fails to narrow its losses." "I do think Meituan has a lot to prove to justify their valuation," said Jackson Wong, associate director at Huarong International Securities. Responding to CNBC's characterization of those analyst comments, a spokesman for Meituan said the company is poised for growth. "For the year ended December 31, 2018, our financial result showed that total revenue increased by 92.3% year-over-year to RMB65.2 billion, from RMB33.9 billion in 2017. The company achieved strong revenue growth across all major business segments," he said. "Especially, the company's two largest business segments, food delivery segment and in-store, hotel & travel segment, on a combined basis generated positive adjusted operating profit in 2018. This important milestone has demonstrated that Meituan's 'Food + Platform' strategy can fulfill its considerable monetization potential and establish a healthy foundation to support investments in new initiatives to propel its future growth."

Post-IPO struggles