[Featured Stock] Krafton, Earnings Growth and New Release Expectations

Krafton is on the rise. It is interpreted that the prospect of exceeding market expectations for fourth-quarter results last year and securities firms' analysis that more than three new titles will be released this year have influenced this trend.

As of 10:16 AM on the 6th, Krafton was trading at 343,500 KRW, up 8,500 KRW (2.54%) from the previous trading day.

Hyundai Motor Securities forecasted that Krafton's revenue and operating profit for the fourth quarter of last year would be 687.7 billion KRW and 265.6 billion KRW, respectively, representing increases of 28.6% and 61.6% compared to the same period last year.

Hyun-yong Kim, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, said, "Consensus earnings are expected to exceed by 4%. On PC, overall traffic upgrades combined with strong sales from Black Market are expected to lead to high growth compared to the same period last year, and on mobile, the effect of China's National Day holiday along with the release of various themed modes and high-value items is expected to result in steady growth compared to the same period last year."

He added, "At least three self-developed titles are scheduled to be released in 2025, led by Enjoy, which will launch in early access on Steam on March 28, along with Subnautica 2 and Dark and Darker Mobile. Enjoy chose to launch first on Steam and then sequentially on consoles to preempt the gap in the life simulation genre that has been growing longer since The Sims," he said. He continued, "Since announcing the early access start for Subnautica 2 in October last year for 2025, gamers' interest has been continuously increasing."