JD.com sinks after Morgan Stanley slashes price target

Liu Qiangdong will no longer attend a high-profile state-run tech forum in Shanghai this week, days after he was briefly attained in US over a rape allegation. Aly Song/Reuters

• JD.com shares dropped more than 5% Monday after Morgan Stanley slashed its price target.
• CEO Liu Qiangdong was briefly detained in the US over Labor Day weekend due to a rape allegation. He denied any wrong doing and has returned to China.
• Liu will no longer attend a state-run artificial intelligence forum in Shanghai this week, Reuters says.
• Watch JD.com stock price in real time here.

JD.com dropped more than 5% Monday after Morgan Stanley slashed its price target to $25 from $37, the lowest on Wall Street.

The company’s earnings will suffer well into next year due to slowing gross merchandise value growth, lighter margins, and accelerated investments, Morgan Stanley analyst Grace Chen said, according to Schaeffer’s investment research. Chen remains “equal weight” rating for JD.com.

Shares of JD.com, the second-largest Chinese e-commerce site after Alibaba, were under pressure earlier this month after CEO Liu Qiangdong was arrested Labor Day weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over a rape allegation. At the time, Liu was participating in business administration Ph.D program at the University of Minnesota.

Liu was released after 16 hours, without requiring bail, but remains under investigation. He faces a first-degree felony if he is charged with the crime, according to a police record seen by the South China Morning Post. Liu denied any wrongdoing and returned to China. 

Since his return to China, Liu has shown up at small signing events on behalf of the company, but is yet to attend any high-profile public event, Reuters says. And this week, Liu would be absent from a state-run tech forum in Shanghai, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

Shares of JD.com were down 40% this year.

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