Yuanta Securities judged on the 20th that Kakao's stock price has fallen excessively recently due to platform regulatory issues, and that a further drop in corporate value due to regulations will be limited.
In response, the company raised its investment opinion from the existing "hold" to "buy" and maintained its target price of 150,000 won.
Kakao's third-quarter sales expected by Yuanta Securities were 1.6 trillion won, up 47 percent from a year earlier, and operating profit rose 69 percent to 202.9 billion won.
Kakao Talk Biz and Talk Channel advertising synergies continue to grow, while commerce gift sales have recovered.
Mobility sales also continued to grow, while marketing costs for games, entertainment and webtoons increased.
"Regarding Kakao Pay's ban on brokerage of online financial products, which was the cause of the recent plunge in stock prices, suspended services account for only 1.2% of Kakao Pay's total sales as of the second half of this year," Yuanta Securities said in a report on the 20th. "The impact on Kakao Pay's growth rate will be limited.".
Reporter Lee Dong-hoon usinvestmentidea2020@gmail.com
