(Photo courtesy of Krafton)

 

[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Minyoung] On July 5th, Meritz Securities raised the target price for Krafton from 300,000 won to 340,000 won.

Meritz Securities noted, "The growth of the PC version of PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) continues to be steep following the first quarter, and indicators such as the number of Steam users and game consumption on Twitch remain solid." They added, "Mobile revenue is also expected to increase by 26% year-on-year, driven by the growth skin effect released at the end of March and strong performance in India."

Meritz Securities estimated Krafton's second-quarter consolidated sales at 551.6 billion won and operating profit at 192.3 billion won, representing year-on-year increases of 42.5% and 46.3%, respectively.

Krafton recently collaborated with NewJeans to release in-game items. However, issues regarding probability-based items and sexual harassment have led to refunds and G-Coin (in-game currency) compensation, which are expected to impact second-quarter and third-quarter sales. Despite this, Meritz Securities believes the overall impact on Krafton's performance will be limited, as the issues were more prominent domestically than internationally, where PUBG has a larger user base.

There is also optimism about new releases. Meritz Securities mentioned, "Dark and Darker M is scheduled for beta testing in the third quarter, both domestically and internationally. The increasing viewership for content related to the original 'Dark and Darker' is also positive news for Dark and Darker M."

 

 

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