[Click eStock] "Nasmedia, Reflecting Big Data Business... Earnings Expectations Up"

Shinhan Financial Investment Report

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Shinhan Financial Investment maintained its buy rating and target price of 45,000 KRW for Nasmedia on the 4th. This is based on the judgment that earnings could further increase due to the incorporation of the big data sector.

Nasmedia's consolidated sales for the fourth quarter of last year are expected to reach 31.1 billion KRW, a 0.7% increase compared to the same period last year. Operating profit is estimated to record 9.4 billion KRW, a 0.1% increase. The addition of advertising expenditures from home appliances and financial advertisers to the existing gaming sector, along with the beginning of recovery from COVID-19, is expected to result in a 10% increase in outdoor advertising, leading to favorable performance.

Sejong Hong, a researcher at Shinhan Financial Investment, said, "Despite the negative base effect, solid performance meeting market expectations is anticipated," and added, "Separate performance improvement continues, and the core online (DA) sales are expected to grow by 7.2% to 12.7 billion KRW compared to the same period last year."

The subsidiary PlayD also appears to be emerging from its worst phase. The negative growth rate in sales is expected to ease from the previous 20-30% to around 10%. However, it is anticipated that more time will be needed to generate meaningful profits.

This year, consolidated sales are expected to grow by 8.8% to 120.5 billion KRW compared to last year. Operating profit is projected to increase by about 16.3% to 30 billion KRW. The profit increase is estimated to be concentrated in the first half of the year due to the base effect, with combined operating profit for the first half expected to rise by 26% to 12.8 billion KRW compared to last year. Furthermore, growth in separate online and outdoor advertising is expected to be complemented by the recovery of the subsidiary PlayD.

The big data momentum is also expected to be reflected. A new business utilizing KT's customer data is anticipated to launch as early as next month. It is presumed to be a closed commerce business using text messaging services, with KT having 6 to 7 million customers immediately available, which is expected to significantly raise expectations.

Researcher Sejong Hong stated, "The price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of Incross, which operates big data and advertising businesses, is around 25 times this year. If Nasmedia, a latecomer in big data like Max Lab, shows meaningful results, a multiple of over 15 times can be sufficiently granted," and added, "Attention should be paid to the big data opportunity starting this year."

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