[Click eStock] "Kakao Games, New Release Sales Slump... Target Price Down"

Daishin Securities lowered the target price for Kakao Games from 44,000 KRW to 36,000 KRW on the 25th. The investment rating was maintained at 'Buy.'

Kakao Games is estimated to have recorded sales of 293.6 billion KRW in the second quarter, a 13% decrease compared to the same period last year. Operating profit for the same period is expected to plunge 54% to 37.5 billion KRW. Despite new releases, performance was weak due to a decline in sales of the game "Odin."

Odin, Kakao Games' main lineup, had no updates in the first quarter, and a delayed update was carried out around last month in the second quarter. As a result, the reflection period of the update effect was also insufficient.

Additionally, Odin was launched in Japan on the 15th of last month but performed poorly. Accordingly, Odin's second-quarter sales are expected to decrease by about 12% compared to the previous quarter.

Lee Ji-eun, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "In the second half of the year, new releases such as Ares and Gadis Order, as well as overseas releases of EverSoul and Odin, which were previously launched domestically, are scheduled." However, she added, "While the steady release of multiple games every quarter without a gap is considered a multiple premium factor, the low hit ratio of each new release makes it difficult for momentum to occur in the stock price."

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