[E-Daily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] Shinhan Investment Securities announced on the 14th that it is maintaining its “Buy” rating and 100,000 won target price for DoubleUGames(192080).

Kang Seok-oh, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Securities, explained, “Compared to overseas social casino companies whose growth has stalled, the stock is still undervalued in terms of price-to-earnings ratio, and the performance of new casual games utilizing AI (artificial intelligence) has significant upside potential, so we believe this is the year for a revaluation.” He added, “We have also conservatively factored in the impact of Google’s app fee reduction, which began on June 30. We factored in the continued upward trend in profit margins driven by AI, as well as M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and shareholder returns utilizing 1 trillion won,” he explained.
The firm projected second-quarter operating revenue of 203.4 billion won (up 18.3% year-over-year) and operating profit of 67.3 billion won (up 24.0%, operating margin of 33.1%), in line with the consensus estimate of 70.4 billion won in operating profit. Analyst Kang noted, “While existing social casino games are entering their off-season, Paxy Games is expected to achieve 15% growth compared to the previous quarter as it continues to launch new casual titles utilizing AI.”
He continued, “We estimate that i-Gaming (SuperNation) will see growth in the 20% range year-over-year despite marketing efficiency improvements. Cost control is expected to continue through the expansion of in-app purchases and the streamlining of the development organization,” emphasizing, “The revenue share of new businesses—excluding existing social casinos—is projected to rise to 28.4%, confirming both growth and a structural transformation.”
He added, “All studios are expected to turn a profit for the year due to revenue and profit growth from the acquired studios. Future investments are expected to focus on enhancing profitability by combining the company’s AI development processes with developers that have strengths in specific genres,” and noted, “The pace of M&A and shareholder returns is expected to accelerate following the full acquisition of DIO Corporation in the second half of the year.”