[Click eStock] "Krafton: Mobile Leads Strong Q3 Performance"

On August 26, Daishin Securities evaluated Krafton as its "top pick" among gaming stocks, citing expectations of continued earnings growth in the second half of this year and strengthened momentum from new releases toward the end of the year. The investment opinion remains "Buy," with a target price of 5.4 million won.

Krafton has completed the off-season second quarter and is currently implementing various updates in anticipation of the peak third quarter. The first-ever K-pop artist and vehicle collaborations on PC, as well as the ongoing Bugatti collaboration running through mid-September, have received positive feedback from users. As a result, PUBG's Steam sales ranking is expected to remain high.

Lee Jieun, a researcher at Daishin Securities, commented, "However, traffic appears to have stagnated in the low 700,000s. For the second half of 2025, we expect PC revenue growth to be driven by increased ARPU (average revenue per user) through various collaborations." She added, "From then on, service upgrades such as the introduction of UGC mode or Unreal Engine 5 are expected to enable simultaneous increases in both ARPU and traffic, as experienced over the past two years."

In the first quarter, Krafton's mobile revenue surpassed 500 billion won for the first time, reaching 532.5 billion won and setting a new record. Third-quarter mobile revenue is estimated at 519.5 billion won, up 22% year-on-year. In particular, despite the launch of competing new titles like Valorant Mobile in China, Krafton's mobile games have maintained high rankings. It is also expected that the company can once again achieve the strong first-quarter revenue levels seen during the Lunar New Year and the Rondo map update.

Lee further stated, "Following strong third-quarter results, the fourth quarter will see additional collaborations involving the PUBG IP, vehicles, Western IPs, and fashion brands. As a result, both revenue and profit are expected to grow by more than 20% compared to the fourth quarter of last year, which saw no major updates. Expectations for new releases such as Subnautica 2 in the first half of next year and Palworld Mobile in the second half are also likely to be reflected in the share price."