The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Valuation gains on non-marketable assets offset impairment losses on invested assets— Valuation gains on non-marketable assets (e.g., Naver Financial stake) offset a KRW14.7bn loss on disposal of equity-method
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at ym.ko@shinhan.com and hyungwou@shinhan.com, respectively. -- Ed. Domestic market for private 5G to take off in 2022Contrary to expectations, investments in 28GHz-based 5G networks have been lackluster. In the absence of B2B
The number of members of the National Samsung Electronics Union under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the largest of the four unions in Samsung Electronics, topped 6,000 last week. The number increased by more than 50 percent from 4,000 or so this year. The ratio of the number to the total em
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at leesunhwa@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY, target price of KRW430,000 We maintain BUY and TP of KRW430,000 on HYBE. The stock is trading at 37.6x 12m fwd P/E (vs. 44.3x historical P/E average) on the pending issue of military service for
SK Group has surpassed Hyundai Motor Group to become the second-largest business conglomerate in Korea in terms of assets.The Fair Trade Commission announced on April 27 that it has designated 76 large business groups with assets exceeding 5 trillion won as corporate groups subject to public disclos
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at leesunhwa@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY, target price of KRW430,000 We maintain BUY and TP of KRW430,000. 1Q22 revenue should miss the consensus on slowing new merch sales for BTS PTD concerts and major artists’ inactivity. However, 2Q
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. NAVER reported sluggish 1Q22 OP growth, owing to both slowing commerce and ad sales growth and rising labor costs. However, with all negatives now reflected, the firm’s share price should soon bo
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at drlee@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY; lower target price to KRW420,000 We maintain BUY but lower our TP 10.6% to KRW420,000. We lower 2022E revenue/OP by 1.0%/5.3%, as OPM improvement has been delayed with slowing growth in key downstrea
Hyundai Movex, a subsidiary of Hyundai Elevator, has commercialized the world’s first robot elevator.The company announced on April 14 that it has supplied Roboport, a robot-only inter-floor transport system, to Naver’s new office building “1784.” Roboport is a dedicated elevator for about 100 robot
As controversy over counterfeit products arises in e-marketplaces, Naver is tightening the conditions for foreigners wishing to join Naver Smart Store. In the future, foreign residents in Korea will be required to submit their business registration cards to receive approval from Naver.Naver will blo
Seven European startups that received equity investment from Naver have grown into unicorns with an enterprise value of more than 1 trillion won. Naver established a European investment fund six years ago to expand its business territory around the world and discover promising venture startups.Naver
Consumer complaints are continuing over the poor call quality of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S22 smartphones.Some Galaxy S22 users lodged complaints about poor calls on Samsung Electronics’ official community and Naver online cafés. Consumers complained that no sound was heard after a call was conne
Foreign investors’ net selling in KOSPI and KOSDAQ totaled 5.8 trillion won and 1.8 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, respectively.Their net selling in KOSPI amounted to 5.1 trillion won in March alone, the largest since August last year, when the amount was 6.3 trillion won.They sold
LG CNS has entered the emerging 5G private network business. It will build and operate a private 5G network at LG Innotek's plant in Gumi.The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on March 31 that it has completed frequency assignment for LG CNS and registered it as a basic communication busines
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY; cut target price 4.8% to KRW10,000 We maintain BUY on Mirae Asset Securities but cut our TP 4.8% to KRW10,000. Our rating is unchanged given (1) continual efforts to support the stock price via st
Korea Water Resources Corp. launched the digital water platform ‘wateRound’ at the Abdou Diouf International Convention Center in Senegal, where the 9th World Water Forum is held, on March 22.The cloud-based platform provides water-related data owned by various organizations such as Korea Water Reso
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at sh.kim@shinhan.com and mintz95@shinhan.com, respectively. -- Ed. Over-20% YoY growth continues for both sales and OP in 4Q21NICE Information Service posted strong earnings growth through 4Q21 with sales reaching KRW133bn (+2
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com. -- Ed. With the presidential election now decided, expectations are rising towards a friendly business environment for the platform industry. Considering positives in play for the sector, including anti
Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S22 series, which was expected to set a new sales record, hit a snag -- the forced use of the game optimizing service (GOS). Criticism is growing among consumers as suspicions arose that the Korean smartphone giant tried to solve the overheating problem through forced GOS
Naver Webtoon announced on Feb. 16 that the number of monthly active users (MAUs) exceeded 82 million in January. The figure reached 72 million in December 2020.As the number of global users swelled, the amount of paid transactions also increased. According to the company, monthly transactions toppe