Naver Tops Individual Net Purchases in September... Q3 Earnings Expected to Improve

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] Combining the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets, the stock most purchased by individual investors last month was Naver (NAVER).

According to the Korea Exchange on the 2nd, from September 1 to 30, the top stock in net purchases by individual investors was Naver. During this period, individual investors net bought Naver shares worth a total of 520.3 billion KRW.

The stock price showed signs of stagnation in September compared to August. In August, the closing price never fell below 300,000 KRW, but last month, it hovered below 300,000 KRW from the 18th onward, undergoing a correction. The closing price, which was 322,500 KRW on August 31, dropped to 296,500 KRW on the 29th, a decline of 8.06% in one month. This contrasts sharply with the KOSPI index, which showed little change, moving from 2326.17 to 2327.89 during the same period.

However, Choi Yoo-jun, a researcher at Shinhan Financial Investment, analyzed, "If volatility continues in this period, it can be used as a buying opportunity for growth stocks, which are the existing leading stocks."

Naver's third-quarter earnings are expected to improve significantly. Daishin Securities forecast that Naver's advertising revenue will grow by 20% year-on-year in the third quarter due to strong sales from smart channels. The business platform revenue is also expected to increase by 12% as Naver Shopping's transaction volume steadily grows despite the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Naver is strengthening synergy in the search, shopping, and finance sectors. The business platform reflects the combined effect of search and shopping, while the IT platform reflects the combined effect of payment and shopping, sustaining high growth in sales across each business division. Yoon Eul-jung, a researcher at Shin Young Securities, explained, "Naver Pay, Naver Place, and other platform services are maximizing user loyalty by expanding point accumulation and introducing paid memberships."

According to Shin Young Securities, Naver Pay's payment amount is expected to reach approximately 28 trillion KRW this year. Naver Plus Membership, launched in June, secured 1 million users within three months of its release, and the user lock-in effect on Naver's financial platform is also increasing. IT platform sales this year are expected to grow 56.3% year-on-year to 714.8 billion KRW. Researcher Yoon said, "Naver's business platform is expanding its business centered on cloud services and continuously growing its performance by attracting large partners such as financial companies," adding, "Naver's future core growth drivers are fintech and cloud services."

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