[Edaily Reporter Kim Kyung-eun] #NAVER is down by around 6% due to profit-taking following yesterday’s sharp rise. While securities firms have been raising their target prices one after another, some have also expressed caution, and the current decline appears to reflect concerns over the burden of the recent short-term surge.
According to MP Doctor, as of 9:28 a.m., NAVER is trading at 261,000 won, down 18,000 won (6.45%) from the previous day. This reflects a flood of profit-taking following the stock’s 9.20% surge the day before.
Yesterday, Naver officially announced a joint project with NVIDIA to build a gigawatt (GW)-scale global AI factory. The plan is to begin operations with a 55-megawatt (MW) facility next year, expand to 200 MW by 2028, and ultimately complete the gigawatt-scale AI factory infrastructure. An AI factory is a next-generation data center that integrates the semiconductor, network, power, and cooling systems required for AI model training, inference, and services into a single production facility.
The securities industry has unanimously raised its target stock prices. Hana Securities and Daol Investment & Securities each set a target price of 400,000 won, while Kyobo Securities (390,000 won), KB Securities (330,000 won), Kiwoom Securities (320,000 won), and Samsung Securities (300,000 won) also raised their target prices. Lee Jun-ho, an analyst at Hana Securities, commented, "We expect the company’s fundamentals to undergo a complete transformation through its partnership with NVIDIA," adding, "This is expected to contribute to earnings starting next year, followed by a global expansion."
However, some analysts expressed caution. Kim Jin-gu, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, raised the target price to 320,000 won but downgraded the investment rating from “Buy” to “Outperform.” He noted, “While we have newly reflected the AI Factory business value at 11.1 trillion won, it remains to be seen whether related revenue will continue beyond the short to medium term,” pointing to the possibility of capital increases or equity dilution resulting from large-scale fundraising as potential variables.
Lee Hyo-jin, an analyst at Meritz Securities, also stated, “Considering market demand, the AI Factory business can be interpreted as a deal that resonates with investors,” but added, “How quickly the business materializes to respond to market demand is seen as a key factor for the future stock price.”