[Market Focus] NCSOFT Surges Over 7% on Strong Earnings

NCSOFT is surging in early trading on August 12, buoyed by a surprise earnings announcement for the second quarter.

As of 9:32 a.m. on this day, NCSOFT shares were trading at 217,500 won per share, up 7.41% from the previous session. Immediately after the market opened, the stock even showed double-digit gains.

This is attributed to strong buying interest following the company's robust second-quarter results. On this day, NCSOFT announced that its consolidated operating profit for the second quarter of this year reached 15.1 billion won, up 70.5% year-on-year. This figure exceeds market consensus. Revenue for the same period also rose 3.7% to 382.4 billion won.

NCSOFT explained that increased game sales, driven by the launch of a new server for "Aion," led to the strong performance. The company plans to lay the foundation for a full-fledged earnings improvement within the year by releasing new titles such as "Aion 2."

Kim Jingu, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, named NCSOFT as his "top pick in the gaming sector" in a report released prior to the earnings announcement. He predicted, "As time passes, the PC-focused development path and the developers' sincerity regarding Aion 2 will help build a favorable user base, which in turn will naturally raise market expectations for the successful launch of the new title." Kiwoom Securities has set its target price for NCSOFT at 390,000 won per share.