[Click eStock] "Naver, Strong Growth in Q4... Smooth Sailing in Metaverse"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Korea Investment & Securities announced on the 24th that it maintains a buy rating and a target price of 540,000 KRW for Naver (NAVER), forecasting solid growth in the fourth quarter of this year.

Jung Ho-yoon, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, stated, "Although the stock price has been steadily adjusting since September due to regulations and lack of momentum, considering Naver's growth potential and the smooth expansion of new businesses such as the metaverse, it is necessary to carefully consider the timing and price for gradual buying."

Naver's fourth-quarter sales are expected to increase by 23.5% year-on-year to 1.9 trillion KRW, and operating profit is forecasted to rise by 12.1% to 363 billion KRW. Search platform sales are expected to show solid growth at 887.2 billion KRW (+15.2%), and commerce sales are also projected to continue strong growth at 410.7 billion KRW (+29.6%). Content sales are expected to grow significantly to 197.9 billion KRW (+42.5%) due to increased global webtoon consumption, including in Korea.

Operating expenses are estimated to increase more than expected by 26.5% to 1.5 trillion KRW, mainly due to a significant rise in development and operation costs from year-end bonuses and a substantial increase in global marketing expenses related to webtoons.

Researcher Jung said, "Naver's metaverse ecosystem is gradually expanding," adding, "Companies from various industries such as Baskin-Robbins, MCM, GS25, and Ediya are opening their stores in virtual spaces through collaboration with Zepeto, and as users continue to increase, the overall ecosystem is expanding."

He continued, "Naver is also running the Arcverse project through its technology subsidiary Naver Labs, which replicates real cities in virtual spaces. In particular, in cooperation with SoftBank, they are creating three-dimensional high-precision maps of major Japanese cities and working on building virtual spaces identical to actual cities. Recently, SoftBank invested 220 billion KRW in Naver Z, which operates Zepeto along with HYBE and YG, and is expected to become an important partner in Naver's future metaverse projects."

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