NAVER became the first among domestic Internet corporations to achieve sales of 10 trillion won. The company's consolidated revenue for last year was 10.7377 trillion won, marking an 11.0% growth compared to the previous year. In the fourth quarter of last year, revenue and operating profit also recorded 2.8856 trillion won and 542 billion won, respectively, which is an increase of 13.7% and 33.7% compared to the same period the previous year. In particular, securities firms raised NAVER's target stock price in anticipation of growth in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Sangsangin Investment & Securities set NAVER's target stock price at 310,000 won on the 10th, which is a 24% increase from the previous target price of 250,000 won. This is 37% higher than the current stock price of 225,500 won.
Other securities firms have also raised NAVER's target stock price. ▲ Hana Securities 250,000 won → 270,000 won (8% increase) ▲ IBK Securities 260,000 won → 300,000 won (15% increase), etc.
Lee Seung-hoon, a researcher at IBK Securities, noted about NAVER's last year’s revenue, "The search platform, which has a large share of the revenue and good profitability, has grown," and added, "Profitability improved due to optimization effects in commerce advertising and efficiency in AI-based search."
Hana Securities projected that NAVER will achieve consolidated operating revenue of 11.6529 trillion won and operating profit of 2.3443 trillion won this year, which are growths of 8.5% and 18.4%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. In particular, there are forecasts that the growth of advertising revenue will accelerate.
Lee Junho, a researcher at Hana Securities, stated, "This year is expected to be the year when NAVER's advertising competitiveness shines," adding, "Last year, NAVER's advertising revenue was 5 trillion won, and this year, it is estimated to grow to 5.475 trillion won, marking an increase of 9.6% compared to the same period last year." He further added, "This year marks a period of improvement in profitability due to efficient growth in the advertising sector, which will allow for expenses aimed at securing competitiveness in commerce and AI."
In the securities industry, there are also expectations about NAVER's AI sector. Choi Seung-ho, a researcher at Sangsangin Investment & Securities, remarked, "NAVER's key investment keyword this year was 'recovering domestic market share,' but now it's also about AI following DeepSeek," and added, "Now is the critical point."
According to analyses, both NAVER and Kakao were not recognized as AI software in the market from 2023, which triggered the AI era, until 2024, the period of AI advancement, but it is noted that the situation now is different from the past. Choi said, "In particular, AI is positively being applied to NAVER's services more vigorously," and analyzed that "NAVER is estimated to have significantly reduced AI expenses compared to the past before DeepSeek and may achieve further AI cost efficiency after this DeepSeek."
Jung Ho-yoon, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, projected, "With recent technological advancements related to AI, the possibility of closing the technological gap with big tech at low costs has increased, and NAVER is expected to create added value by applying AI to its various services."