[Click eStock] "Naver Holds Irreplaceable Personalized Data"

Target Price Raised from 270,000 Won to 320,000 Won

On June 23, Hana Securities raised its target price for Naver from 270,000 won to 320,000 won, citing expectations of profit growth in the second half of this year driven by advertising and commerce expansion, as well as Naver's solid positioning in the era of AI competition. The investment opinion was maintained as 'Buy'.

Previously, in a report last month, Hana Securities stated that Naver is highly likely to secure a leading position in the domestic AI agent market. The firm also projected that if Naver targets the global market through additional M&A or services, a flexible re-rating would be possible. Hana Securities added, "This view remains valid," but pointed out that "two new variables have emerged: the appointment of Center Director Ha Jungwoo as Chief of AI Future Planning, and the rising prominence of stablecoins."

Lee Junho, a researcher at Hana Securities, explained, "As policies related to 'sovereign AI,' such as the proposal of the Special Act on AI Powerhouse, become increasingly visible, Naver's capabilities in proprietary LLM (large language model) and public cloud are expected to stand out." He added, "Naver is also competitive in the new hegemony of stablecoins." He assessed that the company already owns Naver Pay and, with its total transaction volume (GMV) surpassing 50 trillion won last year, plays a key role in the domestic e-commerce ecosystem.

Naver plans to expand the exposure of 'AI Briefing' to 20% within this year, and will sequentially introduce specialized AI briefings in areas such as finance and healthcare. In addition, the company is set to launch a shopping AI agent this year, and from 2026, it plans to release vertical AI agents starting with search and finance. Researcher Lee commented, "Naver's strengths lie in its comprehensive assets, including its search engine, proprietary AI models, commerce, fintech, pay, content, and cloud, all of which can be leveraged to advance agent sophistication." He further evaluated, "Ultimately, the differentiating factor for B2C AI agents will be the availability of personalized data. Naver's search, blog and cafe (UGC), and commerce provide irreplaceable personalized data that domestic and global competitors cannot match."