[Click eStock] "Aton, Enters Cryptocurrency with Upbit... Operating Profit Improvement Expected"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Hana Financial Investment announced on the 24th that it applied a target price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of 24 times to the expected earnings per share (EPS) of Aton this year and presented a target stock price of 55,100 KRW. The target PER was calculated by averaging the median expected PER of Kukon and FASOO, which were selected as the competitive group.

Aton is a fintech security solution company established in 1999. It gained prominence as the Public Certificate, which was responsible for security authentication in existing financial transactions, was abolished following the enforcement of the Electronic Signature Act in December 2020, activating the private sector authentication market.

Kim Doo-hyun, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, explained, "Aton's customer base in the fintech security solution business is expected to continue expanding, and synergy with Lambda256, a subsidiary of Upbit related to the Travel Rule business, as well as investments in new companies, have been fully initiated," adding, "This is expected to positively impact this year's performance."

On the 21st, Aton signed a comprehensive business cooperation agreement (MOU) with Lambda256, a Dunamu affiliate, for digital virtual assets and blockchain business. With financial sector customers and references, and based on an understanding of 'RegTech' (the combination of regulation and technology) through security and authentication business, it is expected to create synergy.

Expansion of business related to ‘Luniverse’ is also anticipated. Luniverse is a platform that helps virtual asset operators develop blockchain services independently. Through this, it is expected to expand as a Travel Rule solution provider and a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) company.

Aton's sales this year are projected to be 57 billion KRW, and operating profit 13.2 billion KRW, representing growth of 30.7% and 45.1% respectively compared to the previous year. Stable sales of fintech security solutions and additional customers, expansion of institutions using and issuing the PASS fintech platform business, and investments in biometric authentication core technology companies are expected to create synergy in the security authentication business. Furthermore, new business and non-financial sector expansion momentum through MOUs with Musicow, Upbit, and others are expected to enable performance growth. Researcher Kim said, "As demand for SI-type smart finance business increases, focusing selectively on businesses with high margins is expected to improve operating profit margin."

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