[Edaily Reporter Kim Kyung-eun ] On the 28th, KB Securities maintained its “Buy” rating and target price of 330,000 won for NAVER(035420)(Naver), stating that concerns regarding funding for its artificial intelligence (AI) factory business have been resolved.

Lee Ji-eun, an analyst at KB Securities, stated in a report released that day, “The stock price had been on a sustained downward trend as concerns regarding the structure and profitability of Naver’s AI Factory business were overly reflected in the market,” but added, “Through this funding round, the potential to secure capital and anchor clients—key prerequisites for the AI Factory business—has been confirmed, and we expect business risks to decrease as well due to NVIDIA’s strategic participation.”

The analyst noted, “For the AI Factory business to succeed, it requires securing funding, acquiring anchor clients, and sharing business risks with global big tech companies,” adding, “Concerns regarding funding have been largely alleviated through NVIDIA’s strategic equity investment of 1.48 trillion won and the securing of approximately $9 billion in investment from Brookfield.”

He further analyzed, “We believe this financing was made possible because securing anchor customers is now within reach,” adding, “Furthermore, given NVIDIA’s participation as a strategic partner, we can expect it to serve as a backstop against future risks related to demand and the residual value of graphics processing units (GPUs).”

Concerns regarding profitability are considered excessive. Naver has adopted an “asset-light” structure based on off-balance-sheet (Off-BS) financing through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), meaning it does not directly bear depreciation expenses or interest costs. Since the structure involves paying lease fees to the SPV while selling GPU services (GPUaaS) to clients, the company explains that it is possible to achieve profitability from the early stages of the business.

The analyst stated, “Concerns regarding the AI Factory’s business structure and profitability have been overly reflected in the stock price,” adding, “With this funding round, the core prerequisites for the business have been met, and business risks are expected to decrease thanks to NVIDIA’s strategic participation.”

He added, “Considering that profitability can be achieved from the outset through the asset-light structure, these concerns will likely dissipate rapidly as specific business structures and client details are disclosed, allowing the stock price to rise resiliently.”

The target stock price was calculated using the Sum-of-the-Parts (SOTP) method. It reflects the following values: Platform at 34.228 trillion won, Enterprise at 8.6671 trillion won, the value of the Line Yahoo (LY) stake at 5.1966 trillion won, Financial at 3.4058 trillion won, and Webtoon at 689 billion won.