[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] NP is showing strong performance. It appears that securities firms' analysis highlighting that NP is undervalued compared to competitors among metaverse companies generating actual sales is influencing the stock price.
As of 9:15 AM on the 1st, NP is trading at 7,850 KRW, up 29.97% from the previous day.
NP, established in 2006, is a video content planning and production company centered 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 saw negative growth last year due to COVID-19, NP grew through video-based online BE content and extended reality (XR) 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.
Choi Jae-ho, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, said, "NP's core strength is XR technology that can be linked with the metaverse," adding, "NP operates a 600-pyeong (approximately 1,983 square meters) 'LED wall-based XR stage,' which is the largest scale in Korea."
He continued, "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 peer groups such as Dexter, Giantstep, and Maxst," he analyzed.
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.
Researcher Choi said, "Attention should be paid to the real-time content that the alliance of Naver, YG Entertainment, and Wysiwyg will showcase," explaining, "NP established a joint venture YN C&S with Naver, YG Entertainment, and Wysiwyg Studio for the purpose of next-generation content production and XR total studio development."
He added, "The business model involves producing real-time content streamed to Naver using YG Entertainment's global artist IP," emphasizing, "NP's LED wall-based XR stage is easily expandable to live concerts requiring real-time interaction."
He analyzed, "Therefore, although offline concerts will resume after entering the post-COVID phase, hybrid performances adding online shows will become established," and "It is understood that major domestic game companies are currently discussing investment and joining YN C&S."
Furthermore, "NP is pursuing M&A of two video content-related companies," and "there is a high possibility that NP will develop its own virtual influencer IP through joint development with partners," he added.
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