The 6th Record High This Month... NCSoft Approaching 'Hwangjejeu' Status

Surpasses 950,000 Won... 2nd Highest Stock Price Across All Categories
Target Price Raised to 1 Million Won Range by Securities Firms
Operating Profit Steams Toward 1 Trillion Won... "Growth Potential Remains"

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] NCSoft has set a new six record highs this month, surpassing 950,000 won. Despite the economic slowdown caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it continues to achieve record-breaking performance, leading securities firms to optimistically anticipate its entry into the 'emperor stock' category with a stock price exceeding 1,000,000 won.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 24th, NCSoft recorded an intraday record high of 957,000 won the previous day. Compared to the closing price of 630,000 won on January 20, when the KOSPI index was at its highest this year, it has risen 51.9%. This is the sixth time this month that a new record high has been set. Despite the KOSPI index falling below 2200 in mid-month and starting a correction, the upward trend has continued steadily. Foreign investors have also shown interest and bought shares. Since May, NCSoft ranked 4th among KOSPI stocks in net foreign purchases, with 227.8 billion won. Apart from NCSoft, only Celltrion (480.2 billion won), KODEX 200 (265.6 billion won), and Kakao (233.9 billion won) have seen net foreign purchases exceeding 200 billion won during this period.

The entry into the 'emperor stock' category, referring to stocks priced over 1,000,000 won, is also within reach. Among all stocks in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets, LG Household & Health Care is the only stock more expensive than NCSoft. The average target price from nine securities firms that issued target prices for NCSoft this month is 1,023,000 won. Six out of the nine firms set target prices above 1,000,000 won. Mirae Asset Daewoo raised its target price early on the 2nd, when NCSoft’s stock price was 810,000 won, to as high as 1,150,000 won.

The background of this upward trend lies in NCSoft’s record-breaking performance streak. Contrary to concerns, the cannibalization effect between 'Lineage 2M,' released last year, and 'Lineage M,' launched in 2017, has not appeared, and both are driving sales together. The daily sales of the two games are approximately 3.8 billion won and 2.36 billion won, respectively, ranking first and second in domestic game sales on Google Play. Thanks to this, NCSoft is expected to achieve record-breaking results in the second quarter following the first quarter. The market consensus for the second quarter performance is sales of 651.6 billion won and operating profit of 258.9 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, sales are up 58.6%, and operating profit has doubled.

The outlook is also bright. As updates for the 3rd anniversary of Lineage M and new content for Lineage 2M are scheduled for today, sales are expected to rise again in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, overseas release of Lineage 2M and new releases such as Blade & Soul 2 are also planned. Researcher Moonjong Lee of Shinhan Financial Investment explained, "With new releases and overseas expansion of existing titles, sales concentrated domestically will diversify. Compared to overseas game companies of similar scale, there is still an undervaluation aspect, so there is sufficient growth potential going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.