[Click eStock] "Netmarble, Q2 Operating Performance Greatly Improved... Target Price Up 27%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Ebest Investment & Securities maintained a 'Buy' rating on Netmarble on the 21st, expecting a significant improvement in the second quarter operating performance compared to the earnings shock in the previous quarter, and raised the target price by 27% from 100,000 KRW to 127,000 KRW.

Seong Jonghwa, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, analyzed, "The consolidated operating performance for the second quarter is expected to improve significantly with sales of 579.1 billion KRW and operating profit of 61 billion KRW, up 9% and 199% respectively compared to the previous quarter."

He added, "Due to the effects of new releases such as The Seven Deadly Sins and A3: Still Alive, sales are expected to increase by about 9% compared to the previous quarter, while operating expenses are expected to rise by only about 1% compared to the previous quarter due to a decrease in marketing costs."

The reason for the target price increase includes upward revisions of the value attribution for NCSoft, Coway, Big Hit Entertainment, and treasury shares, as well as newly reflecting the equity value of Kakao Bank and Kakao Games.

Researcher Seong Jonghwa stated, "Due to the recent sharp rise in stock price, the current price is judged to be within the target price range," and "Some of the many new release schedules could achieve much stronger big hits than our and the market's expectations."

He emphasized, "If costs such as labor and marketing expenses are efficiently managed and new releases and performance momentum are created simultaneously, the target price can be further raised at any time."

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