[Click eStock] "NAVER, Major Changes in Core Business... Focus on New Services"

On the 10th, SK Securities maintained a target price of 270,000 KRW and a 'Buy' investment rating for Naver (NAVER), stating that while the company is undergoing significant changes in its core business, the future stock price direction will depend on the successful establishment of new services.

Researcher Nam Hyo-ji estimated, "Q4 revenue is expected to increase by 9.1% year-on-year to 2.77 trillion KRW, operating profit to rise by 32.4% to 536.7 billion KRW, and net income attributable to controlling shareholders to grow by 44.2% to 453.1 billion KRW," adding, "operating profit is expected to slightly exceed consensus."

He analyzed, "Following the previous quarter, the advertising business is showing signs of recovery, and despite challenging market conditions, the search platform is expected to grow by 10.6%. Commerce, expected to grow by 12.7%, showed growth centered on on-platform transaction volume due to strengthened delivery quality and increased usage of arrival guarantees, despite weak consumer sentiment."

Researcher Nam noted, "Commerce launched the beta service of the AI-based hyper-personalized shopping 'Naver Plus Store' in October and plans to release it as a separate app within the first half of the year," forecasting, "This will facilitate data collection and analysis."

He added, "Delivery options now include dawn, same-day, and desired-day delivery, which can strengthen categories such as daily necessities and home appliances that were relatively weak compared to competitors," and "Advertising can achieve cost efficiency and expand the advertiser pool through the advancement of integrated platform tools, so the advertising business is expected to continue growing starting from the recovery seen in the second half of the year."

He emphasized, "The successful establishment of new services will be the key to driving a stock price rebound," elaborating, "The settlement of Naver Plus Store and Ad Boost is important, and if the resulting sales efficiency is confirmed, the stock price is expected to rebound rapidly once again."