[Click e-Stock] "NHN to Earn More Next Year with 'Infrastructure Expansion'... Target Price Raised"

Hanwha Investment & Securities Maintains NHN as a Top Pick

On November 10, Hanwha Investment & Securities raised its target price for NHN from KRW 87,000 to KRW 93,000 and maintained its “Buy” rating and top pick designation.

“NHN’s third-quarter 2026 results exceeded market expectations, driven by strong cloud revenue,” said Kim So-hye, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities. “Taking into account additional infrastructure expansion plans that will be reflected in results starting in January 2027, we are raising our estimated operating profit for 2027 by 7% from our previous forecast.”

NHN reported revenue of KRW 758.3 billion and operating profit of KRW 58.8 billion for the third quarter, exceeding market forecasts by as much as 9%. NHN Cloud revenue, in particular, rose 10.3% from the previous quarter and drove the results. Gaming revenue fell 6.2% quarter over quarter. “Webboard games continued to show steady growth, but mobile games declined as the impact of the previous quarter’s collaboration was no longer reflected,” Kim said.

The infrastructure expansion plan was a particular focus in the latest earnings announcement. In addition to the 30 MW capacity expansion announced the previous quarter, NHN announced plans to expand its infrastructure by a total of 32 MW, including 26 MW at Jangseong Pine and 6 MW in Gasan and Incheon. All of the data centers are targeted for completion by the end of 2027. The Gasan and Incheon data centers are expected to begin operations in January 2027, with their results reflected immediately.

“We understand that NHN is considering both government and private-sector projects, and given the track record it has built up, we believe it will have no difficulty filling the capacity, regardless of whether it secures government projects,” Kim said. “The Gasan and Incheon data centers are set to be equipped with more than approximately 1,700 B300 units. We expect them to generate revenue at least on par with that of the existing Yangpyeong data center, which is equipped with approximately 1,500 B200 units.”

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