[Click eStock] "NHN, Cloud Enterprise Value Reflected... Target Price Raised"

Samsung Securities Raises NHN Target Price to 92,000 Won

On September 1, Samsung Securities stated that the value of the subsidiary NHN Cloud is now being reflected in NHN's share price. Accordingly, the target price was raised from 65,000 won to 92,000 won while maintaining a 'buy' rating.

On August 28, NHN announced through a disclosure on the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system that NHN Cloud had signed a five-year long-term lease agreement for a 20MW capacity at its AI data center (AIDC) under construction in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. This move is part of the company's plan to secure an additional 30MW-class AIDC by 2027. The remaining 10MW capacity will be secured by expanding its own data center.

NHN's AIDC revenue model has already been validated. The company currently operates 7,656 government-owned GPU B200 units (equivalent to 20MW) at its Yangpyeong AIDC. Of these, 20% are leased to the private sector, generating approximately 100 billion won in annual GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) revenue. The operating margin stands in the double digits.

Donghwan Oh, a researcher at Samsung Securities, commented on NHN Cloud's performance, saying, "Securing data center floor space (for server installation) has improved the visibility of NHN's expansion in its GPUaaS business. Since NHN has already signed long-term lease contracts with clients, the risk of profitability deterioration due to potential future rent declines has also been minimized."

Samsung Securities projects that profitability from AI-related businesses will become evident from 2028. Researcher Oh stated, "The additional 30MW-class AIDC will gradually begin operations from 2027, with its sales to be fully reflected starting 2028." He added, "Annual revenue is expected to range from a minimum of 150 billion won (assuming all public sector contracts) to a maximum of 750 billion won (assuming all private sector leases), depending on the proportion of public projects." GPUaaS-related revenue alone is forecast to reach 400 billion won annually from 2028.

Based on these earnings projections, Samsung Securities raised NHN's estimated operating profit for 2028 by 18% to 380 billion won compared to the previous forecast. The target share price was also raised by 41.5%, reflecting a separate valuation of 1.4 trillion won for NHN Cloud's equity value.

Researcher Oh analyzed, "Although the share price has sharply risen since the last earnings announcement, given that NHN Cloud’s improving performance is now being reflected in the company's valuation, there still appears to be additional upside potential for the stock."

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