Once a 1 million-won “game emperor” stock ... Could it rise from 200,000 won to 370,000 won?

[Financial News] On the 4th, Shinhan Investment & Securities forecast that NC would grow through hits from its existing game intellectual property (IP), new game releases and expanded casual game revenue. It raised its target price by 12.1%, from 330,000 won to 370,000 won, and maintained its “Buy” rating.
Ko Jun-hyeok, an analyst at Shinhan Investment & Securities, said, “The successive hits of Lineage Classic and AION 2 have reaffirmed the strength of NC’s existing IP,” adding, “In 2027, NC will bring its strength in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) to the Horizon IP, which has a large global fan base.”
Shinhan Investment & Securities estimated that NCsoft’s operating revenue this year would rise 91.2% year on year to 2.8818 trillion won, while operating profit would increase 3,422.5% to 566.4 billion won. It forecast combined domestic and global revenue of 229 billion won for AION 2 in the fourth quarter of this year.
However, it said that user retention and revenue conversion for AION 2 need to be monitored. “Concurrent users on Steam are declining, and given the game’s low monetization intensity, we need to see the repeat payment rate after the first month,” Ko said.
Next year, the new game Horizon Steel Frontiers, based on the Horizon IP, is seen as one of the key titles to watch. Shinhan Investment & Securities forecast revenue of 255 billion won for the game next year. Cinder City, as well as the externally published titles Astrae and Time Takers, are also expected to help narrow the gaps between major releases.
In the casual game segment, it took note of the company’s preparations for publishing centered on in-app purchases, in addition to its existing advertising revenue. “Expanding the supply of content is expected to secure new revenue sources,” Ko said, adding that there was “potential for a re-rating depending on retention and performance in casual games after new titles are released.”


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