[Click e-Stock] NC Maintains Strong Momentum Despite New Title Delays

Samsung Securities Lowers NC Target Price

On July 22, Samsung Securities maintained its "Buy" investment rating for NC, stating that the company has ample momentum despite the delay of several new titles. However, the firm lowered its target price from 350,000 won to 290,000 won to reflect the downward revision of earnings forecasts.

Donghwan Oh, a researcher at Samsung Securities, stated, "Thanks to strong sales of Lineage Classic, NC’s sales for the second quarter are expected to reach 705.5 billion won, a 26.6% increase compared to the previous quarter and 7.2% above consensus. Operating profit is also forecast to increase by 16.6% quarter-on-quarter to 132.1 billion won, in line with consensus estimates."

He predicted that the average daily sales of Lineage Classic in the second quarter would be 1.8 billion won, up 15% compared to the previous quarter. With the full impact of business days reflected, sales for the second quarter were estimated at 163 billion won. Mobile casual game revenue was also projected to rise from 35.5 billion won in the first quarter to 145.8 billion won in the second quarter, thanks to the new inclusion of Just Play.

Researcher Oh explained, "PC room traffic for Lineage Classic, which launched in February, peaked in March and has been gradually declining. The number of PC room users in June is expected to be 1.78 million, a 48% drop compared to March." He added, "Aion 2 is also expected to see continued decreases in both traffic and sales. Even though Aion 2 will launch globally in September, its sales contribution will likely be limited due to the small number of business days in the month. As a result, third-quarter operating profit is expected to fall below 100 billion won."

However, he emphasized, "From September, three new publishing titles, including Aion 2, are scheduled to be released, so we expect operating profit to rebound beginning in the fourth quarter. Next year and the year after, major releases such as Horizon: Steel Frontiers and Guild Wars 3 are planned for launch, and spin-off games like Mistbound and Aion Mobile will be released between these blockbuster launches. This will ensure that the momentum from new releases remains strong going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.