[Click eStock] "CJ ENM, Media Power Recovery... Target Price Raised"

DB Financial Investment Issues 'Buy' Rating and 180,000 KRW Target Price... Closing Price on 6th at 146,500 KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] An analysis has emerged that CJ ENM's media power is recovering.

On the 7th, DB Financial Investment gave CJ ENM a 'Buy' investment rating and set a target price of 180,000 KRW. The target price was raised from the previous 163,000 KRW. The closing price on the previous day was 146,500 KRW.

Regarding CJ ENM's fourth-quarter performance last year, DB Financial Investment estimated sales of 939.8 billion KRW and operating profit of 73.5 billion KRW. Sales are expected to decrease by 7.3% year-on-year, but operating profit is projected to increase by 72.5%.

Shin Eun-jung, a researcher at DB Financial Investment, explained, "The media sector is expected to see a 95.5% year-on-year and 18.7% quarter-on-quarter growth in operating profit excluding Studio Dragon, driven by a recovering TV advertising market, digital sales growth centered on TVING and YouTube, and a low base from the previous year and quarter. In fact, the ratings and box office performance of tvN, OCN, and Mnet content have improved compared to the first to third quarters of last year, leading the growth of the previously sluggish media performance."

The music sector is expected to generate an operating profit of 2 billion KRW through online concerts and IZ*ONE albums. However, the film sector is expected to incur an operating loss. This is because major anticipated releases such as "Hero" and "Seobok" were delayed to this year amid continued lack of theater demand.

In light of the media performance recovery outlook, DB Financial Investment forecasted CJ ENM's performance this year to be sales of 3.7602 trillion KRW and operating profit of 315.1 billion KRW, representing increases of 11% and 22.3% year-on-year, respectively. Researcher Shin said, "With recent news of a share swap with Naver and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NCSoft, new growth opportunities are expected in the content and music sectors this year. If the core media topline also begins to recover in earnest, it would be the icing on the cake."

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