The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Com2uS to bask in growing smartphone game sector: UBS

By Kim Yon-se

Published : July 22, 2012 - 20:19

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South Korea’s leading mobile game maker Com2uS Corp. will benefit from the growing smartphone game industry, investment bank UBS said Sunday, offering a “buy” recommendation on the company.

“We believe Com2uS will be a key beneficiary of the expansion of the global smartphone gaming market,” UBS said in its initial coverage report on the company.

Com2uS is one of South Korea’s most successful makers of video games for mobile phones. The company is known for such mobile games as finger-wrenching Homerun Battle, Slice It and Tiny Farm, which are sold on application stores both for iPhone users and Android phone users.

According to industry watcher PocketGamer, the mobile game maker has ranked sixteenth among the top global mobile game developers.

UBS said the South Korean company has taken much stronger initiatives to target the overseas market during the past several months.

“We believe the successful performance of key titles in overseas markets will act as a strong share price catalyst,” the Swiss investment bank said.

In 2011, the company’s overseas revenue rose 98 percent on-year to 17 billion won ($15 million) in 2011, accounting for 52 percent of its total revenue.

The game maker’s overseas sales are expected to rise 47 percent on-year to 26 billion in 2012 and 45 percent on-year to 37 billion won in 2013.

Despite concerns about intensifying competition given relatively low entry barriers, the company’s strong brand equity and solid presence overseas will help it outgrow peers, UBS said.

The smartphone game market will continue to expand, driven by the growing popularity of social network games, the rising global penetration of smartphones and the accelerating growth of open market application stores, the investment bank predicted.

UBS has put its target price of the company’s share at 58,000 won. In the latest trading session on Friday, Com2uS closed at 43,150 won. (Yonhap News)