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4th Place Kakao, Closely Chased by Naver... Briefly Rose to 3rd During Trading
KOSDAQ 3rd Place Kakao Games, Market Cap in 4 Trillion Won Range Alongside 4th and 5th Places

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] As the stock market has been showing a strong trend recently, the battle for the 3rd largest market capitalization is heating up. Kakao, which rose to 4th place last week, is closely chasing Naver (NAVER), which holds 3rd place. On the KOSDAQ, where fierce ranking competition has been ongoing since last month, Kakao Games is solidifying its position in 3rd place.

As of 9:15 a.m. on the 14th, Kakao was trading at 141,000 KRW, up 5,500 KRW (4.06%) from the previous day, surpassing 140,000 KRW. Naver also rose by 2.95%. Kakao's market capitalization is 62.5941 trillion KRW, and Naver's is 62.995 trillion KRW, with a gap of 400 billion KRW. At one point, Kakao overtook Naver to take 3rd place.

Kakao, which was 6th at the end of last month, remained in 5th place earlier this month but rose to 4th place on the 9th after surpassing LG Chem. Kakao has risen more than 10% so far this month. It has been rising for six consecutive trading days recently. During the same period, Naver rose 2.76%, and LG Chem rose 3.79%. Due to Kakao's strong performance, the gap with Naver, which was 4.9 trillion KRW at the end of last month, has narrowed to below 1 trillion KRW. Hwang Seungtaek, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, "Kakao's performance improvement is overwhelming its competitors, and with the IPOs of subsidiaries starting in earnest in the second half of the year, a revaluation of consolidated value can be expected, so the stock price will continue to show a steady trend."

Jung Hoyoon, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, said, "Since April, Naver's stock price trend has shown relative weakness compared to Kakao," adding, "Naver's recent stock price slump is due to a slowdown in profit growth caused by increased costs, but sales growth remains solid, so from the point when the increase in operating expenses begins to slow down, the growth rate of operating profit will normalize."

However, since the market capitalization gap among 3rd to 5th places is still not large, changes in ranking can occur anytime depending on stock price fluctuations. Based on the previous day's closing price, Naver was 61.1881 trillion KRW, Kakao was 60.1525 trillion KRW, and LG Chem was 60.0035 trillion KRW.

On the KOSDAQ, the competition for 3rd place in market capitalization was fierce last month, but this month Kakao Games seems to be solidifying its 3rd place position. Pearl Abyss, which was 3rd at the end of last month, dropped to 5th, Kakao Games, which was 4th, rose to 3rd, and EcoPro BM, which was 5th, rose to 4th. Last month, these three stocks alternated in holding the 3rd place position. Although Kakao Games has recently maintained 3rd place, the market capitalizations of all three stocks are in the 4 trillion KRW range, so the situation is not one to be complacent about. Based on the previous trading day's closing price, Kakao Games' market capitalization was 4.2234 trillion KRW, EcoPro BM's was 4.1471 trillion KRW, and Pearl Abyss' was 4.0991 trillion KRW.