[Click e-Stock] Stock Market Is Booming... "But I'm Left Behind"

Meritz Securities has lowered its target price for SOOP from 76,000 won to 72,000 won. The investment rating remains at Hold.

On May 6, Lee Hyojin, an analyst at Meritz Securities, stated, "The downward revision of the target price is due to changes in earnings estimates, although the valuation and performance assessment period remain unchanged."

Lee explained, "Expectations for expansion into global platforms have diminished, and as the growth rate of the donation-based economy, which is focused on the domestic market, has slowed, SOOP's share price has underperformed. Although there has been an inflow of new and returning users after the major streamers returned last month, it is unfortunate that the company is still experiencing negative growth."

There are still no factors to warrant an upgrade in the investment rating. Lee noted, "SOOP has aimed for global expansion in markets such as Thailand and Taiwan, but has yet to see results. In addition, interest in the platform has waned, and SOOP needs a strong catalyst to move up in investment priority."

In the first quarter of this year, consolidated revenue was 106 billion won, down 1.5% year-on-year. Operating profit also fell 24.1% during the same period to 21.2 billion won. Lee commented, "After being excluded from in-app payments on Android in April last year, and from iOS in December last year, SOOP's donation-based economy revenue has been hit. The negative growth that was of concern is now becoming a reality."

However, the stock price is not expected to fall much further. Lee added, "In February, SOOP announced a three-year shareholder return plan, which includes using more than 25% of consolidated net profit as the source for dividends. If SOOP achieves the estimated 27% return rate, the dividend yield would be around 3.8%, which should limit further price declines."

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