[Click eStock] NHN Lowers Earnings Forecast... Target Price Downgraded

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoonju Hwang] Ebest Investment & Securities maintained its 'Buy' rating on NHN on the 11th, but lowered the target price from 54,000 KRW to 49,000 KRW due to a downward revision of earnings forecasts reflecting last year's Q4 operating profit falling short of expectations.

Seong Jonghwa, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, stated, "Although the commerce division's performance in Q4 last year saw a sharp increase in sales, profitability is estimated to have been weak due to simultaneous sharp rises in payment fees and cost of sales."

Researcher Seong explained, "NHN has been experiencing a multiple discount situation for a long time due to a lack of new momentum. While the commerce and cloud businesses, which are being actively nurtured as future growth engines, have sufficient growth potential, they need further development to be recognized as premium value factors in the market."

He added, "The medium- to short-term direction of the company's stock price this year is likely to be largely influenced by the performance of new P&E (P2E) games, which are a hot topic in the gaming industry. Therefore, it is necessary to closely monitor the performance of blockchain-based P&E (P2E) new releases scheduled for launch this year, such as WEMIX Sports (2Q22), Uparu NFT (3Q22), Project NOW (4Q21), and Hot Slot Marble (4Q22)."

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