[Click eStock] "Shift Up, Momentum Alongside Strong Earnings"

Korea Investment & Securities analyzed on the 20th that Shift Up not only has strong earnings but also momentum. They maintained a 'Buy' investment rating and a target price of 70,000 KRW.

Korea Investment & Securities expects Shift Up to record sales of 56.8 billion KRW and operating profit of 40.4 billion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year. This represents increases of 23.9% and 24.8%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Jung Ho-yoon, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, explained, "Nikke's sales are expected to lead the strong performance with 45.3 billion KRW. The 2nd anniversary update conducted in November achieved good results, and due to the characteristic of being settled in dollars by Tencent, it is expected to have benefited from the strong dollar."

He added, "With strong earnings in the fourth quarter of last year and a major momentum in the form of Nikke China scheduled for the second quarter of this year, Shift Up's stock price is expected to show a steady trend in the first half of the year. Although the market uncertainty in China has significantly increased compared to the past, Tencent has already gained a high level of understanding of the game through global publishing over the past two years." He continued, "The completeness as a subculture is also high, so positive expectations for its success can be made."

He forecasted, "The average daily sales at the early stage of Nikke China's launch are expected to be around 800 to 900 million KRW. With the launch of Nikke China, this year's Nikke sales are expected to increase by 60.5% to 247.8 billion KRW compared to the previous year."

He expected this year's projected sales and operating profit to be 310.5 billion KRW and 230.7 billion KRW, respectively, representing increases of 42.9% and 57.0% compared to the previous year. He emphasized, "If the performance in China exceeds market expectations, there is ample room for upward revision of earnings estimates. It is one of the stocks to watch most closely in the first half of the year."

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