[Special Stock] 'Earnings Shock' Com2uS Loses 180 Billion Market Cap... Brokerage Target Price Down

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Com2uS's stock price fell more than 10% following an earnings shock in the fourth quarter of last year, wiping out about 180 billion KRW in market capitalization in just one day.

At 2:23 PM on the 14th, Com2uS was trading at 109,500 KRW, down 10.76% from the previous trading day. The stock price even dropped to 104,200 KRW during the session as market concerns over poor earnings were reflected.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Com2uS recorded sales of 173.4 billion KRW, a 28.5% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Operating profit was 11.2 billion KRW, down 57.2% year-on-year. While sales exceeded market expectations, operating profit fell short of forecasts due to increased costs related to consolidated subsidiaries and continuous rises in labor costs.

The company expects labor costs to increase significantly this year as investments in personnel related to new P2E games and the metaverse platform, Com2Verse, continue. Donghwan Oh, a researcher at Samsung Securities, said, “The profit contribution from the subsidiary WYSIWYG Studios is low, so we are lowering this year’s operating profit forecast by 36.7% from the previous estimate,” adding, “We are also lowering the target price by 28% to 150,000 KRW.” He further explained, “The recently released performance of competitors’ P2E (Play to Earn) games has fallen short of market expectations, and with intensified competition expected in the P2E game market from the second quarter, the performance of Com2uS’s upcoming titles must also be closely monitored.”