[Featured Stock] Naver Hits New Low Again Amid Poshmark Acquisition Impact... Down Over 5%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] NAVER recorded a sharp decline of over 5% in early trading on the 5th, once again hitting a 52-week low. This is interpreted as a result of the global interest rate hike trend combined with the impact of the announcement the previous day regarding the acquisition of the U.S. secondhand fashion platform Poshmark.

As of 9:57 a.m. on the day, NAVER was trading at 167,500 KRW on the Korea Exchange, down 5.10% from the previous trading day. During the session, the price dropped to 166,500 KRW, marking a new 52-week low. This is the first time since April 16, 2020 (167,500 KRW) that NAVER's intraday low fell below 170,000 KRW.

As global central banks have been aggressively raising interest rates to curb soaring inflation, creating an unfavorable environment for growth stocks, the announcement of NAVER's acquisition of Poshmark the previous day appears to have driven the stock price decline.

The day before, NAVER disclosed that it would acquire the North American secondhand fashion platform 'Poshmark' for approximately 2.3441 trillion KRW. Following this news, NAVER's stock price plunged 8.79% the previous day.

Within the industry, there are evaluations that NAVER acquired Poshmark at a somewhat expensive price amid uncertain prospects for the platform business.

Accordingly, securities firms have been lowering NAVER's target price one after another. Korea Investment & Securities lowered it from 330,000 KRW to 300,000 KRW, NH Investment & Securities from 360,000 KRW to 270,000 KRW, Daol Investment & Securities from 380,000 KRW to 260,000 KRW, Samsung Securities from 350,000 KRW to 280,000 KRW, and IBK Investment & Securities from 350,000 KRW to 315,000 KRW, all revising their target prices downward simultaneously.

Samsung Securities researcher Oh Donghwan also evaluated, "The acquisition of Poshmark is part of NAVER's global expansion strategy, but due to the low visibility of profitability improvement in the platform, which continues to operate at a loss, it is insufficient to alleviate current market concerns."

However, there were also opinions that NAVER's recent price drop was excessive.

NH Investment & Securities researcher Ahn Jaemin analyzed, "One of NAVER's weaknesses is its limited global influence, but through this acquisition, it has secured a commerce platform and user base in the U.S. market, which is positive," adding, "The acquisition of Poshmark has sufficiently positive factors in the mid to long term."