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By Tang Guhan

China's food-delivery company, Meituan Dianping, has been valued at 746 billion yuan by the United Bank of Switzerland (USB), as reported by Hong Kong Media on Thursday.

The valuation is equivalent to 184.5 times based on its Price/Earnings ratio (P/E) in next year's estimates.

The company's sponsors for its upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Hong Kong valued Meituan within a range of 355 billion to 452 billion yuan.

In details, one of its sponsors, Goldman Sachs, gave Meituan a valuation of 388.7 billion yuan and Morgan Stanley, another sponsor, spoke highly of the company's potentials in the life-serving segment, valuing the firm at 395.5 billion yuan, according to Hong Kong Media.

Although sponsors' estimates are slightly lower than the UBS, these estimates are 50 percent to 100 percent higher than a year earlier.

In comparison, China's smartphone maker Xiaomi, which is also listed in Hong Kong, projected its P/E ratio for next year to be 25.2 and the E-commerce giant Amazon is slated to only have a PE ratio of 52.3 for 2019.

Analysts said investment banks are valuing Meituan highly in the belief that the company will continue a rapid and stable growth in the future

The UBS held that the company could achieve a turnaround from a loss to profits by next year while the Bank of America and Merrill Lynch said Meituan would earn a profit of around 8.9 billion yuan by 2020, as reported by Hong Kong Media.

Meituan Dianping filed for its IPO in Hong Kong on June 25, 2018, thus commencing its floatation. The company still made a loss of 2.85 billion yuan last year, according to its prospectus for the IPO.

Tencent was reported as one of the cornerstone investors for Meituan with an investment amount of USD 400 million.