[Click eStock] "Netmarble, Sales Decline Amid Lack of New Releases... Target Price Down 7%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] Hyundai Motor Securities maintained a 'Buy' rating on Netmarble on the 29th, while lowering the target price by 7% from the previous level to 130,000 KRW.

Hyundai Motor Securities forecast Netmarble's Q1 earnings this year to be 690.5 billion KRW in revenue and 48.1 billion KRW in operating profit. These figures are 9% and 30% below market expectations, respectively. The operating margin is expected to be 7%, similar to the previous quarter when the business conditions were comparable due to the absence of new releases and the consolidation of SpinX.

Researcher Kim Hyunyong of Hyundai Motor Securities interpreted this as "a continued stabilization of declining sales of major games amid the absence of new releases."

However, Hyundai Motor Securities maintained the 'Buy' rating on Netmarble due to the expansion of its own intellectual property (IP) and the establishment of an in-house IP lineup expected to perform well in Q2.

Researcher Kim explained, "Netmarble has announced plans to increase the proportion of its own IP, currently at the 20% level, to 75%. The Q2 release of Seven Knights Revolution and the second half release of Modoo Marble Metaworld are in-house IP lineups expected to perform well."

Additionally, Netmarble's ambitious metaverse business includes the Metaverse VFX Research Institute, scheduled for completion in the first half of this year.

Researcher Kim analyzed, "Momentum is expected from the Q2 release of Seven Knights Revolution, and with the launch of P2E games such as Golden Bros underway, the initial fruits of high-growth new businesses, including Modoo Marble Metaworld combined with the metaverse in the second half, are expected to materialize."

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