[Click eStock] "Webzen, Expecting Performance Recovery and New Release Momentum in Second Half"

NH Investment & Securities maintained its investment opinion and target price of 16,500 KRW for Webzen on the 9th, expecting new game momentum and earnings recovery in the second half of the year.

Ahn Jae-min, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "'Ragnador,' which is currently in pre-registration, is scheduled to be released in September. It ranked high in Japan last year, and given the recent popularity of the subculture genre in Korea, its performance is worth anticipating." He added, "'MU Monarch' is preparing for release in the fourth quarter, and 'Le More: Infested Kingdom' is also planned to be launched on the Steam platform."

Webzen's second-quarter sales amounted to 42.5 billion KRW, down 38.9% year-on-year, and operating profit decreased by 53.8% to 11.8 billion KRW, exceeding the previous estimate of 7.7 billion KRW and market consensus of 9.2 billion KRW.

Sales sharply declined year-on-year due to the high base effect of 'MU Origin 3,' released in February 2022. However, compared to the previous quarter, sales decreased by only 0.7%, indicating a reduction in the decline rate and entry into a downward stabilization phase. MU intellectual property (IP) sales recorded 25.1 billion KRW, up 52.7% year-on-year.

Additionally, costs have stabilized. Researcher Ahn explained, "One-time labor costs incurred last quarter have disappeared, resulting in labor costs of 15.5 billion KRW." He added, "Marketing expenses dropped significantly to 200 million KRW due to the absence of new games but are expected to rise again in the third quarter."

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