[Click eStock] "Naver Set for Commerce Re-Rating on User Migration from Coupang... Target Price at 330,000 Won"

On January 9, Korea Investment & Securities stated that Naver is expected to benefit from user migration following Coupang's personal information leak incident. The firm forecasted, "The undervaluation of Naver's commerce division will be gradually resolved through a re-rating of its value, which has been underestimated until now, leading to a progressive alleviation of the company's overall undervaluation."

Jung Hoyoon and Hwang Injun, analysts at Korea Investment & Securities, presented this analysis in a report released on the same day, maintaining a 'Buy' rating and a target price of 330,000 won for Naver. They also identified Naver as their top pick within the sector.

The analysts projected that Naver's revenue and operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2025 would reach 3.32 trillion won (a 15.0% increase year-on-year and a 5.7% increase quarter-on-quarter) and 613.1 billion won (a 13.1% increase year-on-year and a 7.4% increase quarter-on-quarter), respectively, slightly exceeding the market consensus of 599.6 billion won in operating profit.

By business division, search platform revenue is expected to reach 1.14 trillion won (a 4.6% increase year-on-year and a 5.1% increase quarter-on-quarter). This figure reflects a somewhat lower growth rate due to the negative impact of the Chuseok holiday and a one-off settlement base effect from LY Corp. in the fourth quarter of last year. In contrast, commerce revenue is estimated to reach 1.05 trillion won (a 36.0% increase year-on-year and a 7.0% increase quarter-on-quarter), continuing its high growth trajectory. They analyzed, "Transaction volume was sluggish in October, but has been gradually rising toward December. Increased commission rates and strong performance in commerce advertising are driving revenue growth."

They particularly highlighted the favorable shift in the market environment for Naver. The analysts noted that Naver is benefiting from user migration following Coupang's personal information leak incident. They emphasized, "For a long time, the commerce division has been significantly discounted compared to Coupang due to its lower growth rate. However, recent changes in the environment are having a positive impact on performance and could lead to a re-rating of the commerce division's valuation."

There are also high expectations for new business initiatives. This year, the commercialization of stablecoin and the activation of the cloud-based GPU as a Service (GPUaas) business are expected to drive significant expansion into new business areas. The analysts evaluated, "Positive developments such as Naver's data center operation capabilities and synergies from the acquisition of Dunamu will be key factors in enhancing Naver's corporate value."