The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at shinay.park@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Raise target price 8% to KRW260,000; maintain BUY with mid-/long-term investment horizon We maintain BUY on E-mart and raise our TP by 8% to KRW260,000. We recommend adopting a mid- to long-term investment
MBK Partners, the Northeast Asia’s biggest PEF based in Seoul, will sell Accodia Next Golf, the largest golf course chain in Japan.MBK Partners sent an investment manual (IM) to potential buyers to sell the golf course chain. Morgan Stanley, the lead manager of the sale process, will hold a prelimin
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on July 27 that it conducted a work environment inspection at Naver and found that its employee who committed suicide in May this year suffered from in-house bullying and the company did not pay 8.67 billion won to its former and current employees for t
The author is a strategist of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at lawrence.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Having wanted US people to be grasshoppers by granting extra federal unemployment benefits, the US government now hopes that they will become ants as it is soon set to put an end to the benef
Naver Cloud announced on July 26 that it has acquired Multi-Tier Cloud Security (MTCS), a Singapore cloud security certificate, for the first time among Korean cloud operators.MTCS is indispensable for participation in public tenders in Singapore. It will help Naver Cloud enter the global public clo
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. NAVER’s major businesses are continuing to display rapid sales growth, testifying to its expanding influence in a wide variety of lucrative fields, including advertising, commerce, content, and c
NextChapter, a digital commerce platform that acquires and operates Coupang and Naver-based online native brands in Korea, announced on July 23 that it has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round.The funding was led by Korean and international venture capital firms including Klim Ventures, Fast
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY and raise TP to KRW550,000; Top pick for Korea Internet We maintain BUY on Naver and raise our DCF-derived TP by 5.8% to KRW550,000. 2Q21 revenue and OP came in slightly above consensus, and revenue g
Roblox opened its subsidiary in South Korea in Seoul on July 16. According to the company, Roblox Korea will support its services related to online games and development platforms and assist in its marketing and e-commerce activities in South Korea.Roblox is growing very rapidly these days as more a
Ground X, a Kakao subsidiary in the blockchain industry, won the Bank of Korea's central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment project by beating Naver and SK C&C.Ground X and the central bank are going to initiate their research next month and the research will cover cross-border remittance a
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at mj1224@shinhan.com. -- Ed. 2Q21 OP estimated at KRW316.9bn (+2.9% YoY)We now expect NAVER to report sales of KRW1.61tr (+25.8% YoY) and operating profit of KRW316.9bn (+2.9% YoY) for 2Q21. Operating profit should come in sligh
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has decided to launch a next-generation mid-sized satellite in cooperation with SpaceX, a U.S. space developer. It will launch the satellite early next year at the earliest. SpaceX is a private space developer founded in 2002 by Elon Musk who founded Tesla, a U.S. el
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY; raise target price by 16.6% to KRW210,000 We maintain BUY on CJ ENM and raise our TP by 16.6% to KRW210,000. Our DCF-based TP implies 20.8x P/E. Taking into consideration growing Media earnings amid
Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS) announced on July 13 that it has lowered the ESG management grades of Samsung Electronics, Lotte Chemical, HDC Hyundai Development Company, Korea Zinc, Central Insight, Asiana IDT, Air Busan and Asiana Airlines.The ESG management grade of Samsung Electronics
Kakao, Naver and SK Group are competing for the Bank of Korea’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. The central bank is planning to form a partnership with one of them next month.The Bank of Korea announced on July 12 that Ground X, Line Plus and SK Inc. submitted their applications for th
LG Group has started to invest in the metaverse, a word made up of the prefix "meta" (meaning beyond) and the stem "verse" from universe. It means the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet.LG Technology Ventures recently invested in U.S. startup Wave, a company specializing
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY; raise target price to KRW520,000; top internet pick We maintain BUY and raise our DCF-derived TP by 15.6% to KRW520,000 for Naver. We lowered 2021E/2022E OP by 6.1%/3.4% to reflect potential upside t
Market research firm CEO Score recently analyzed the top 500 South Korean enterprises with regard to patent registration from January 2016 to June 10 this year. According to the firm, a total of 141,752 patents were registered by 345 out of the 500 in that period.Samsung Electronics topped the list
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We raise our TP on CJ ENM to W230,000. With all divisions showing upside potential, we draw attention to the media division, which is benefiting from an ad market recovery and rising number of TVIN
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at jy.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. − On Jun 24, Emart announced its decision to acquire an 80.01% stake in eBay Korea for W3.4tn.− We expect the majority of funds for the acquisition to be amassed through asset securitization and the