NCSoft Stockwatch

[Tubbius]

NCSoft stock resembles Pocket D's ski slopes at the moment.

[JaguarX]

looks like it's going up today some compared to Friday.

Did the math on what my friend invested in way back in 2009, 4,000 shares, then andn ot sure nor didnt ask how many they bought recently but just by that 4,000 shares from 2009, and if they sold today they would pocket about a decent sum of money. Still wished I put in way back then. If my math is correct about $500,000 odd for their about $180,000 investment.

But me, I'm still in the red by about $8-$9 a share.

[FatherXmas]

5 year gain - 236%
6 month gain - 1%
3 month gain - 13%

[Randomvector]

Stock dropped almost 3% today, back down to 150k range.
General stock downturn? Or something else?

[dwturducken]

The fundamental problem that I have always had with this thread is that we're looking at a single stock, and things were happening that were market-wide. Don't get me wrong. I'm as tickled as anyone else to see it drop, but you should check the Dow or NASDAQ or your local country's average indicator for an indication of whether it's part of a larger trend..

[Tubbius]

Interesting observation there, about comparing it to other stocks.  I hadn't considered that before.

[FatherXmas]

Or other companies in the same business in the same country.

Two bits of news out of Korea.  First they rolled out a new major content update for B&S along with a formal apology to players for taking so long to add new content.  My guess they were splitting their time between the update and all the changes to make the game palatable to China.  This was last Friday.

As an aside I did come across a 15 minute demo of the character creator and tutorial for the latest Chinese beta, which has been extended.  I have to admit it, the game does look interesting and the Chinese version didn't seem to have as mutantly long legs on the women.  Also that the costume creator "nighty" for females is now more cute and solid than sexy and translucent.  Still it was just the tutorial teaching things such as basic attacks, recovery, sprinting and gliding.  And yes it is in Chinese with the occasional English subtitle.  Still can't stand the girly walking in the video (well your guide's walk, what adult woman walks like that?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mKSScdX6d_8

Second is that the Korean government is thinking about a new 5% tax on MMO developers to fund a development fund for new developers.  Well it's to fund new startups which can include games development.  This was Friday before last.

And one more thing, there was a shake up at another game developer WeMade Entertainment.  A co-CEO suddenly resigned.  That and the new tax may be affecting that market segment negatively.

[General Idiot]

One does have to wonder, if that tax isn't to specifically fund MMO developers then why is it only placed on them? If it's to fund any and all startups, you'd think they'd make it a bit more general.

[Segev]

Likely part of a social engineering effort, rather than a genuine economic one. Korean government has decided MMOs are "too successful" and are a net bad for their society, so is making them more expensive in an effort to diminish their presence.

[Kosmos]

One does have to wonder, if that tax isn't to specifically fund MMO developers then why is it only placed on them? If it's to fund any and all startups, you'd think they'd make it a bit more general.

I believe all they've done is decide to apply Article 7 of the Korean Value-Added Tax Act to MMO services and virtual goods.

[FatherXmas]

Two things.

First the current government of SK has made combating Internet addiction a priority.  They were, don't know if it went through, looking to tax game companies whose games are played via the Internet 1% to fund Internet addiction treatment centers as well as increasing the age range and lockout period of their nationwide game nanny so those 18 and under are booted from 10p to 7a, currently 16 and under from midnight to 6a.  From my understanding of their extreme high school education system (school, study groups, cram school), those 3 hours are basically the only 3 hours teens have to play games.

Second, we're talking about a country that designed their own silicon valley, a suburb designed for young engineers and software developers to live and work.  Which happens to be where NCSoft NCSOFT built their new office complex.  The original plans from the Korean government for the suburb included a futuristic semi domed downtown center, which they were forced to downsize due to costs.



Oh what movies could have been filmed there.

[onyxprincess]

I just had to check the stock on the current face- it is up 5k since the close at 160k. I do not know if NCSoft is traded on the NYSE or the NASDAQ.

[JaguarX]

I just had to check the stock on the current face- it is up 5k since the close at 160k. I do not know if NCSoft is traded on the NYSE or the NASDAQ.

NASDAQ

symbol: NCSCF

close price June 26th 2013- $136.9587


Although, it's also a gray market stock. Basically one that is commonly sold before and after the market here closes (due to the time zone difference probably of the Korean Stock Exhange (the home market)). And if you have the connection you can purchase directly from the Korean Stock Exchange although it's easier with a Korean broker account and sometime odd hours in the night (here in the US) to make those purchases live.
 Can use Scottrade to trade NCsoft stock. Be forwarned though, requires minimum initial $500 deposit before you can do anything. 

[FatherXmas]

That quote is over 3 years old, Dec 4, 2009.  It's a straight up conversion to USD from where the stock closed that day at 158,500 KrW.  It just happens to be really close to where the stock is now.

[JaguarX]

That quote is over 3 years old, Dec 4, 2009.  It's a straight up conversion to USD from where the stock closed that day at 158,500 KrW.  It just happens to be really close to where the stock is now.

Yeah checked with KSE website it actually translate into 138.72 a share or 160,000KW currently with current exchange rate, as of today.

Maybe Nasdaq dont offer it anymore and for some time which makes clear of the gray market stock label.

I have a Korean Account from my army days that I opened on the base. Funny thing is, I opened it originally with the intent of purchasing Japanese, Chinese and Indian currency.

[FatherXmas]

2nd quarter results will be out in a matter of days.  Maybe as soon as today, probably no later than next Monday.  Expect a shift depending how well they met expectations of analysts.

KDB Daewoo last prediction was sales of 188,000 (up) and profits of 44,000 (down) million KrW.  They are guessing both GW2 and B&S sales to be down a little while Lineage sales are way up.

[FatherXmas]

Numbers are out.

Sales up 3.9% over first quarter.  Operation profit up 12.1%.  Net profits down 34.6% due to near doubling of taxes and a large charge under "Impairment on Intangible Assets"

Also NC Europe is NOT a part of NC West Holdings.

Games
Lineage - 84,791 million KrW, up 28.4%
GW2 - 28,899, down 20.6%
Aion - 23,257, down 17.8%
Lineage 2 - 14,298, up 0.6%
Blade & Soul - 14,152, down 14.3%
Other - 13,591, up 6.9%
Royalties - 13,027, up 21.3% (includes Aion in China)

Factoring GW2 out of NA and Europe sales shows only 3,221 million KrW in sales on non-GW2 games in 2nd quarter Vs 3,018 in the 1st quarter.  That's only 30% greater sales than Taiwan.  Compare that to 2nd quarter sales of 128,443 million KrW in Korea shows how much NA/EU has rejected their other released games.

GW2 sales still would translate as 575,000 $15 a month subscription uses.

Stock price is down a smidgen, see if tomorrow reaction is positive or negative once this news is bounced around the world.

[HEATSTROKE]

why are we so fascinated with watching their stock? are we hoping for a collapse ( which I dont believe for one minute is going to happen )

[FatherXmas]

why are we so fascinated with watching their stock? are we hoping for a collapse ( which I dont believe for one minute is going to happen )

Well the thread was started mid Sept last year.  At that point the stock was down from a recent high of 286,500 to 256,000 over two weeks.  More people were more heated at NCSOFT so yes they were hoping for a collapse and in a way it happened.  After the 3rd quarter numbers were released 3 months later the stock was down to 144,000.  In another 3 months after the very good 4th quarter numbers the stock bottomed out at 128,000.

I tried to convey that stock price is a very poor indicator of the actual health of the company.  I tried pointing out that when the stock was over 375,000 that the company's fundamentals never supported that price level and the 18 month steep decline was a long overdue correction followed by market psychology and momentum that drove it further down with no support from the financials.  The upward movement since February is simply the stock slowly rebounding from the oversell.  End of June it closed at 162,000.  That gives us a TTM P/E of 15 or so.

[srmalloy]

I tried to convey that stock price is a very poor indicator of the actual health of the company.  I tried pointing out that when the stock was over 375,000 that the company's fundamentals never supported that price level and the 18 month steep decline was a long overdue correction followed by market psychology and momentum that drove it further down with no support from the financials.  The upward movement since February is simply the stock slowly rebounding from the oversell.  End of June it closed at 162,000.  That gives us a TTM P/E of 15 or so.

As an example of how little stock price relates to corporate health, I was listening to a piece on NPR yesterday about the day's stock market events, and they noted that Apple's stock prices rose 5% in the wake of a single person making two tweets stating that Apple stock was undervalued. A paper increase of $15 billion in value completely unrelated to the actual performance of the company.