KB Securities noted on the 9th that it expects NAVER to establish itself as a Korea-style sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) centered corporation. If a stablecoin, one of the key financial policies of the Lee Jae-myung administration, is introduced, it is also expected to benefit in the institutional sector of simple payment services based on online and offline affiliates. The target stock price has been raised from 260,000 won to 310,000 won, while maintaining the investment opinion of "buy."
NAVER's second-quarter revenue is expected to reach 2.91 trillion won, with an operating profit of 522.3 billion won, in line with market expectations (consensus). This represents an increase of 11.5% and 10.5%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.
The benefits of the Lee Jae-myung administration's consumer coupon policy are also anticipated. NAVER, the second largest business in the e-commerce market following Coupang, primarily sells consumer goods. Starting in the second half of the year, a collaboration with Market Kurly is expected to be fully initiated, leading to an expansion into fresh food and strengthened delivery through securing fulfillment centers.
Lee Sun-hwa, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "Despite the challenging advertising environment, we are surpassing the market growth rate through optimization of print and advanced recommendation advertising," and noted, "Despite increasing expenses for the development of a Korea-style large-scale language model (LLM), I believe that we will successfully defend margins through improved profitability in the commerce institutional sector."
He added, "It is expected that individuals from NAVER will be appointed to key positions in the government's 'sovereign IA' and play a crucial role in policy design," and noted, "As they are already engaged in cloud and AI platform businesses, policy benefits are expected."