[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] Meritz Securities announced on the 2nd that it is maintaining its “Buy” investment rating and target price of 330,000 won for NCsoftCorporation(036570).

Lee Hyo-jin, an analyst at Meritz Securities, stated, “NC’s second-quarter consolidated revenue and operating profit are expected to be 6733억원 (up 76.1% year-over-year) and 1322억원
(+777%), in line with consensus estimates,” and added, “The strong performance of ‘Lineage Classic’ offset the decline in ‘Aion 2,’ allowing PC revenue to hold steady quarter-over-quarter. While ‘Lineage Classic’ maintained daily revenue of 2 billion won in the second quarter, we estimate that ‘Aion 2’s’ daily revenue fell below 1 billion won.”
He continued, “In the mobile segment, while ‘Lineage W’ launched in Southeast Asia and ‘Lineage 2M’ launched in China during the second quarter, they failed to deliver meaningful results, leading us to conclude that the segment failed to prevent a quarter-over-quarter decline. However, since PC games are more profitable than mobile games in terms of revenue mix, this had a positive effect on operating profit.”
They added, “Starting in the second quarter, the reward-based platform JustPlay will be consolidated into the mobile casual segment. While AppLovin represents the growth of the mobile game advertising market, reward-based apps like JustPlay outperformed the market, growing 76% in the first quarter,” he said, adding, “This is because iOS policies will become more flexible starting in late 2025, expanding the customer base for reward-based apps that were previously confined to Android.”
The analyst added, “The company has previously projected an annual revenue growth rate of 80%, and we believe achieving this target should not pose a significant challenge. We expect JustPlay’s second-quarter revenue to reach 1101억 won, a 15% increase from the previous quarter, while mobile casual game revenue is projected to reach 1451억 won,” noting, “The marketing expense ratio is expected to rise significantly starting in the second quarter due to the increasing share of mobile casual game revenue.”