[Click eStock] "Com2uS, New Game Expectations... 'Buy' Maintained"

Target Price Maintained at 59,000 KRW

Heungkuk Securities maintained a 'Buy' rating on Com2uS on the 20th, reflecting expectations for the new game lineup to be released this year. The target price was also maintained at 59,000 KRW, about 33% higher than the previous trading day's closing price of 44,200 KRW.

On the same day, Ji-hyun Kim, a researcher at Heungkuk Securities, stated, "The consolidated profit strength from the subsidiary's structural improvement can be confirmed from 2025." Kim added, "Attention should be paid to the performance of the sports new release 'Pro Baseball RISING' scheduled for release in March," evaluating that "it uses the latest engine, with strengths in stadium implementation and graphics modeled after players' real masks." The fact that Japanese professional baseball, which has an average attendance per game four times that of Korea, opens at the end of March was also pointed out as a factor that raises expectations for the new release.

However, Kim also pointed out that the marketing for the new game was carried out somewhat later than expected. He said, "We expected proactive marketing starting from January with the beginning of spring camp, but the marketing timing was delayed compared to expectations," adding, "This seems to reflect the influence of traditional advertising media in the Japanese market." Kim further anticipated, "TV and outdoor advertisements will be executed at the time of release starting in February," forecasting that Com2uS's sports genre game sales will show high growth next year due to this new release.

Kim explained, "In addition, a number of new releases are scheduled for 2025, including 'Summoners War: Rush', 'Legend Summoner (Casual Action)', 'The Starlight (MMORPG)', and 'Project M (Casual MORPG)' in the lineup."

Com2uS's sales in the fourth quarter of last year were expected to be 172.1 billion KRW, and operating profit 2 billion KRW, up 7.3% and 24.2% respectively compared to the same period last year. Kim said, "Com2uS's standalone sales likely continued to grow due to the 10th anniversary of 'Summoners War' and the Summoners War World Arena Championship (SWC) season," adding, "The media subsidiary has completed structural improvements at a level that does not affect operating profit, and goodwill and intangible asset amortization related to investment assets are expected to be higher than last year."

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