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(Photo= Yonhap news) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] Kakao's stock continues to show a sluggish performance, with securities firms repeatedly lowering their target prices due to ongoing industry challenges.
On the 6th, Kakao's stock closed at 34,450 KRW, up by 300 KRW (0.88%) from the previous day. Although this slight increase marks a small recovery, the stock has fallen by 10% over the past eight trading days, from 38,700 KRW on July 26 to a low of 33,950 KRW on August 4, which was a 52-week low.
The decline in Kakao's stock price has been ongoing since July, following the arrest of Kim Beom-soo, the Chairman of Kakao's Management Innovation Committee. Kim faces allegations of manipulating SM Entertainment's stock price to obstruct Hive's public buyout attempt during the acquisition process last February.
Both foreign and institutional investors have been selling Kakao shares. From July 26 to the previous day, foreign investors sold a net 77 billion KRW worth of shares, while institutional investors sold a net 24.8 billion KRW worth.
Looking ahead, analysts' outlook for Kakao remains pessimistic. Nam Hyo-ji, an analyst at SK Securities, forecasts that Kakao will face continued difficulty in achieving comfortable profit growth in the second half of the year due to intensified competition and industry downturns in its advertising, commerce, music, story, and AI (artificial intelligence) sectors. As a result, SK Securities has reduced its target price for Kakao from 55,000 KRW to 37,000 KRW.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
