Korea Investment & Securities Co. said on the 26th that Krafton's share price has passed the bottom, but further clarification of the new release lineup is needed. It maintained a target price of 390,000 won and a "buy" rating. Krafton's closing price in the previous trading day was 250,000 won.
In the second half of this year, Krafton's share price showed weak performance. Based on market consensus (the market's average outlook), this year's price-earnings ratio (PER) fell to as low as 10.2 times.
Jeong Ho-yoon, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities Co., said, "Valuation fell to 9–9 times, approaching the 2023 level that marked the bottom," and added, "It is time to reset next year's investment strategy."
The biggest reason for Krafton's weak share price in the second half is concern over traffic and intensifying competition. After PUBG PC set a record high of 1.35 million users in March this year and maintained traffic of more than 800,000 throughout the first half, traffic fell to the 700,000 range in the second half. In addition, competition concerns were highlighted further as Battlefield 6, released by EA in October, and Nexon's Arc Raiders, released in November, posted solid early box-office performances, raising the possibility of traffic declines due to intensifying competition.
Jeong explained, "In China, Tencent's success with Delafos has heightened concerns about the traffic and performance of Peacekeeper Elite."
However, PUBG PC traffic has recently shown a rebound. Jeong said, "Even so, looking at it coolly, the current situation requires some patience," and added, "What global investment firms want from game companies is performance on PC and consoles, so it is necessary to watch the new release lineup become concrete from next year onward."