Kakao plunged more than 5% early on the 8th, hitting a 52-week low.
As of 9:54 a.m. that day, Kakao was trading at 38,200 won on the Korea Exchange, down 2,050 won (5.09%) from the previous session. At one point intraday, it slipped to 37,600 won, setting a new 1-year low.
Kakao's share price has fallen more than 36% this year alone. According to Naver Pay Securities, the average purchase price for 96,733 Kakao investors was tallied at 83,068 won. The average return stood at -53.77%.
Brokerages are lowering Kakao's target price. ▲ Mirae Asset Securities 58,000 won ▲ Daol Investment & Securities 60,000 won ▲ KB Securities 69,000 won.
Lim Hee-seok of Mirae Asset Securities said, "Profitability improvement through the streamlining of subsidiaries is positive," but also noted, "It will be difficult for the stock to be re-rated until visible results emerge in the form of accelerated growth in KakaoTalk dwell time through the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) that the market expects."