[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Minyoung] Korea Investment & Securities maintained its existing investment opinion "neutrality" on the 15th, saying that Kakao Pay has been growing steadily, but its higher valuation value (value) than global fintech firms is still a burden.

"Sales and operating losses in the first quarter are expected to exceed market estimates of 174.2 billion won and 6.4 billion won, respectively," said Korea Investment & Securities. "Sales are up 23.1% from the same period last year and operating losses continue to suffer losses."

"Kakao Pay transactions are expected to continue to grow steadily in the late 10% in the first quarter," said an official at Korea Investment & Securities Co. "Online growth will remain strong as they strengthen cooperation with Ali and Temu, who have been rapidly expanding their influence in Korea recently." "Offline is also expected to increase its transaction volume by increasing the penetration rate of kiosks," he said.

The key is improving the profitability of subsidiaries. "The reduction of the deficit of Kakao Pay Securities, which posted an operating loss of 51.5 billion won last year, will serve as a key factor in improving this year's performance," Korea Investment & Securities said. "Although Kakao Pay's separate operating profit ratio dropped by 1 percentage point to 6.9% in 2022 and 5.9% in 2023, securities and other major subsidiaries will have to reduce the deficit by expanding sales."

[ⓒ 알파경제. 무단전재-재배포 금지]