[Click eStock] "Kakao Will Rise Further".. Mobility Expectations

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Junho] Kyobo Securities raised the target price of Kakao to 550,000 KRW on the 22nd.

Kyobo Securities highly evaluated the growth of Kakao Mobility. Kakao Mobility's sales this year are expected to increase by 40.9% from the previous year to 661 billion KRW. The designated driver service is expected to resume growth from the second half of this year, and the premium taxi service without ride refusals, 'KakaoT Blue,' is projected to increase its fleet to 30,000 vehicles by the end of the year. The parking business, which operates Everland and COEX parking lots on consignment, is also expected to generate 50 billion KRW this year according to guidance. Considering these prospects and applying the valuation methods used by global companies, Kakao Mobility's corporate value is expected to reach 3.9 trillion KRW.

The growth of Kakao Entertainment is also anticipated. Kakao plans to launch Kakao Entertainment by merging Kakao Page and Kakao M, and intends to build the entire content value chain in-house, from securing IP through Kakao Page to secondary content production and distribution via KakaoTalk. The estimated corporate value calculated in the same way as Kakao Mobility is about 7.2 trillion KRW.

Park Ji-won, a researcher at Kyobo Securities, stated, "By integrating various transportation modes, it is expected to become the first company in Korea to provide practical MaaS (Mobility as a Service)." He added, "By establishing its own value chain, it plans to gradually expand its influence within the domestic content industry."