[Click eStock] "NCSoft Expected to Slightly Miss 3Q Earnings Estimates"

On the 17th, Eugene Investment & Securities analyzed that NCSoft's third-quarter earnings are expected to slightly miss estimates. The investment opinion 'Buy' and the target price of 340,000 KRW were maintained.

Researcher Jeong Eui-hoon of Eugene Investment & Securities stated, "Third-quarter sales are expected to decrease by 27.8% year-on-year to 436 billion KRW, and operating profit is expected to plunge 84.7% to 22.1 billion KRW, slightly below the consensus of 22.5 billion KRW."

Researcher Jeong explained, "PC sales are expected to remain at a similar level to the previous quarter despite the effect of the Guild Wars 2 expansion pack release, and in the mobile sector, Lineage M's sales remain solid, but Lineage 2M and Lineage W continue to show a downward sales trend."

Researcher Jeong estimated the average daily sales for the third quarter of Lineage M, Lineage 2M, and Lineage W at 1.4 billion KRW, 600 million KRW, and 1 billion KRW, respectively. He analyzed, "Despite the release of Puzzle Up and the regional expansion of Blade & Soul 2 (Japan/Taiwan) in the third quarter, their contribution to sales is minimal, while marketing expenses related to the releases are reflected in costs, leading to a decrease in operating profit compared to the second quarter."

Meanwhile, the global closed beta test (CBT) of Throne & Liberty (TL), conducted in September and October, incorporated much of the feedback from the previous May CBT, including removal of auto-battle, emphasis on motion dynamics, and mitigation of PVP and pay-to-win elements. Researcher Jeong estimated that TL's domestic sales reflected in the fourth quarter, with its December release, will be approximately 15 billion KRW.

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