[Click eStock] "CJ ENM, Media Momentum Continues... Target Price Up"

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] NH Investment & Securities on the 28th forecasted that CJ ENM will continue to show strong performance centered on media in the second quarter of this year and raised the target stock price from the previous 200,000 KRW to 230,000 KRW. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy.'

Researcher Lee Hwajeong of NH Investment & Securities explained, "Considering the confirmed growth in advertising revenue due to the monthly increase in advertising unit prices and the full reflection of efficiency improvements in broadcasting content production costs, we raised the earnings estimates for the media sector, resulting in a 15% increase in the target stock price."

It is expected that strong performance centered on media will continue in the second quarter. NH Investment & Securities predicted that CJ ENM will record consolidated sales of 845.3 billion KRW, a 1% increase compared to the same period last year, and operating profit of 83.3 billion KRW, a 14% increase, exceeding market consensus. The researcher said, "The media sector will continue to see advertising revenue growth due to the recovery of the advertising market and the success of content, along with sustained effects of production cost efficiency. The commerce sector may face one-time costs related to platform integration, but seasonal peak effects will be effective."

Particularly, the growth of TVING is noteworthy. As of May, TVING's monthly active users (MAU) reached 3.3 million, and paid subscribers exceeded 1.3 million, both setting all-time highs. The researcher analyzed, "This is due to strengthened exclusive content and collaboration effects with Naver Membership. By exclusively broadcasting 40% of the matches of the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2020) in June, the scope of exclusive content has expanded to sports broadcasting, and the MAU growth trend is expected to continue."

There is an opinion that there is sufficient upside potential across all sectors. The researcher said, "Based on the content competitiveness of the media sector, the increase in TVING subscribers, operational efficiency through platform unification in the commerce sector, discovery of new proprietary intellectual property (IP) using audition programs in the music sector, and the normalization effect of operations due to the resumption of new film releases in the movie sector are expected."

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