[Featured Stock] "Multiple New Releases Are Key"... Netmarble Down 8.18%

Netmarble's stock price is declining in early trading on the 30th. As of 9:58 a.m. that day, Netmarble was trading at 60,600 won, down 5,400 won (8.18%) from the previous trading day.

Researchers Kang Seok-oh and Go Jun-hyeok from Shinhan Investment Corp. said, "Netmarble turned profitable in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year due to cost efficiency and improved success rates of new releases, but the profit size is still insufficient relative to its market capitalization. The burdensome valuation (stock price level relative to corporate value) is expected to be highlighted." Netmarble recorded consolidated sales of 585.4 billion won, operating profit of 3.7 billion won, and a net loss of 9.9 billion won in the first quarter.

Researchers Kang and Go evaluated, "Netmarble's operating expenses are generally stabilizing due to appropriate marketing cost allocation for maintaining existing titles and launching new ones. The portfolio stability is high as the proportion of casual games with high revenue sustainability is also increasing," adding, "It is positive that recent titles such as the growth genre and new webtoon intellectual property (IP) games have recorded profitable results."

They added, "Following the success of 'Seven Knights Growth,' Netmarble is preparing 'The Seven Deadly Sins Growth.' 'Solo Leveling' was a hit, recording 14 billion won in sales on its first day after release this month, but due to the content volume and billing model (BM) limitations inherent in webtoon IP games, a steep decline and stabilization are expected."

Furthermore, they said, "Considering market capitalization and workforce size, it is judged that steady releases of multiple new titles are more important than focusing on a few works," adding, "It will be difficult to defend the stock price in the second half of the year based solely on new release expectations, and since it has succeeded in turning profitable, the low profit size relative to market capitalization will highlight multiple burdens."

Meanwhile, Netmarble officially launched the blockbuster new MMORPG 'Raven 2' the day before. It is the official sequel to 'Raven,' which was released in 2015 and won the Grand Prize at the Korea Game Awards and achieved over one million daily users.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.