[Featured Stock] KakaoBank's 'Sharp Drop' Hits New Low Humiliation... "Effectively Sell"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] On the 7th, KakaoBank's stock price is experiencing a sharp decline. It also hit a new 52-week low during the trading session. This is interpreted as being influenced by the securities industry's downward revision of the target price released that day. The investment opinion is practically a 'sell.'

As of 9:34 a.m. on the same day, KakaoBank was trading at 19,000 KRW, down 6.17% from the previous trading day. During the session, it plunged to 18,700 KRW, marking a new intraday low.

DB Financial Investment lowered the target price for KakaoBank from 24,600 KRW to 16,200 KRW, citing a sharp slowdown in loan growth due to the real estate market downturn. The investment opinion was maintained as 'underperform,' which is effectively a sell. Researcher Lee Byung-geon of DB Financial Investment analyzed, "The real estate market is depressed, causing a slowdown in the growth of jeonse loans, and credit loans have contracted due to rising interest rates." He added, "Although the launch of loan products for individual business owners in Q4 is expected to rebound the annual loan increase to around 3 trillion KRW after 2023, the market conditions are very difficult."

He further stated, "Annual loan growth is expected to fall significantly short of the initially anticipated 4 trillion KRW level, and fee income related to linked loans and linked accounts is also likely to have been sluggish. Considering the online customer base covering 65% of the working-age population, it is natural for KakaoBank to receive a higher valuation than general banks, but the target price inevitably remains sensitive to loan growth."

However, regarding Q3 earnings, he forecasted that with stabilized loan loss provisions and a relatively small proportion of advertising expenses, net profit would show strong performance, increasing by 33.1% from the previous quarter to 75.9 billion KRW.