[Special Stock] Naver Drops Early in Trading on Q1 Earnings Below Market Expectations

[Asia Economy Reporter Myunghwan Lee] Naver (NAVER) is showing weakness in early trading on the 21st after announcing first-quarter earnings below market expectations.

As of 9:25 a.m. on the day, Naver's stock is trading at 309,000 KRW, down 2.06% (6,500 KRW) from the previous trading day.

Naver disclosed that it recorded sales of 1.8452 trillion KRW and operating profit of 301.8 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year. These figures represent increases of 23.1% and 4.5%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Compared to the previous quarter, sales decreased by 4.3% and operating profit by 14.1%.

These results are lower than the initial market forecasts of 1.8789 trillion KRW in sales and 344.1 billion KRW in operating profit. It is estimated that the seasonal off-peak period in the cloud division contributed to this outcome.

Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, stated, "The new management team will further strengthen efforts to sustain growth and improve profitability in the domestic business, while actively seeking partnership opportunities alongside organic growth efforts such as webtoons globally to quickly realize tangible results."

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