[Click eStock] "NP, a Profitable Metaverse Stock... Undervalued"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Hana Financial Investment stated on the 1st that NP is undervalued compared to its competitors among metaverse companies generating actual sales.

NP, established in 2006, is a video content planning and production specialist company focused on customer experience-based 'Brand Experience (BE)'. It grew based on offline BE advertising content using interactive (BTL) advertising methods. While most advertising production companies experienced negative growth last year due to COVID-19, NP grew through video-based online BE content production and XR (Extended Reality) content production. Last year, sales increased by 11% year-on-year to 22.6 billion KRW, and operating profit rose by 10.2% to 3.6 billion KRW.

The core of NP is XR (Extended Reality) technology that can be linked to the metaverse. NP operates a 600-pyeong scale 'LED Wall-based XR STAGE,' the largest in Korea, through which it plans and produces immersive real-time content.

Choi Jae-ho, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, "Among companies mentioned in relation to the metaverse, NP is actually generating steady profits, but it should be noted that it is undervalued compared to its peer group (Dexter, Giant Step, Maxst, etc.)."

Last year, the sales composition by business division was 40.4% offline BE, 42.0% online BE, 15.5% XR content, and 2.1% others.

This year's expected performance is projected to increase sales by 25.3% to 28.3 billion KRW, and operating profit is expected to rise by 23.7% to 4.5 billion KRW. Offline BE sales, which slowed due to COVID-19, are expected to be compensated by online BE and XR content as in the previous year.

In the second half of this year, online BE includes the ‘Running Man Untact Fan Meeting’ using IP owned by its subsidiary NP C&C, and XR content features a live broadcast of an idol ‘Untact XR Live Concert’ in collaboration with the largest domestic hip-hop label and a mega entertainment agency.

As a representative project of the 2020 Digital New Deal cultural content strategy led by the government, the ‘Gwanghwadae 5G Technology Utilization Interactive Content Development Project’ is scheduled.

Researcher Choi said, "Next year, with the gradual opening of the with-COVID era, a recovery in offline BE is expected, and with the acceleration of digitalization, a hybrid form of orders combining offline BE with online BE and XR content is anticipated," adding, "In conclusion, NP is a beneficiary stock of the with-COVID era as well as the metaverse."