[Click e-Stock] "NHN Set for Regulatory Easing and New Releases... Target Price Raised"

Target Price Raised from 40,000 Won to 48,000 Won

On February 19, NH Investment & Securities raised its target price for NHN from 40,000 won to 48,000 won, while maintaining its "Buy" investment rating.

In a report released that day, Ahn Jae-min, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, stated, "2026 is set to be a year with many positive events, including a government-led GPU infrastructure project, growth in the cloud business, two new games utilizing popular Japanese IPs, and the easing of web-board regulations."

NHN is scheduled to launch a new game, "Puzzle Star (utilizing the Oshi no Ko IP)," on the 25th, and is also preparing to release "Dissidia Duel Final Fantasy (utilizing the Final Fantasy IP)" within this year. Ahn noted, "Since NHN is only in charge of development, it will be able to recognize revenue based on performance without bearing marketing costs."

He continued, "The monthly purchase limit for web-board games was raised to 1 million won after passing the Cabinet meeting late last month, and growth is expected along with the Lunar New Year holiday effect," adding, "The GPU infrastructure project ordered by the government is expected to be completed within the first quarter and could start contributing to revenue from the second quarter."

In the fourth quarter of last year, NHN posted revenue of 685.7 billion won and operating profit of 55.1 billion won. Operating profit jumped 120.5% year-on-year, significantly beating the market consensus of 31 billion won. In particular, it is interpreted that growth was driven by a 139.1 billion won increase in technology revenue, stemming from higher GPU sales at the Gwangju data center and public-sector project orders from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Ahn said, "The normalized earnings achieved last year are expected to support a stable growth trajectory," adding that he estimates this year's revenue at 2.74 trillion won and operating profit at 158.4 billion won.

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