Zacks Research Upgrades WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• WEBTOON Entertainment was upgraded from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating by Zacks Research, indicating increased confidence in the stock's performance.
• Various research firms, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, have recently raised their price targets for the stock, with the average target price now at $15.43.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings beat with $0.07 EPS, surpassing analyst expectations of $0.02, and demonstrated an 8.5% year-over-year revenue increase.

Zacks Research upgraded shares of WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday, August 25th,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on WBTN. Wall Street Zen upgraded WEBTOON Entertainment from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Citigroup began coverage on WEBTOON Entertainment in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on WEBTOON Entertainment from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on WEBTOON Entertainment from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on WEBTOON Entertainment from $11.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.43.

WEBTOON Entertainment Price Performance

Shares of WBTN stock traded down $0.35 on Monday, hitting $14.47. 373,059 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,382,896. WEBTOON Entertainment has a 12 month low of $6.75 and a 12 month high of $18.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.79 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.91 and a 200 day moving average of $9.56.

WEBTOON Entertainment (NASDAQ:WBTN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.05. WEBTOON Entertainment had a negative return on equity of 0.13% and a negative net margin of 7.24%.The business had revenue of $348.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. WEBTOON Entertainment's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. WEBTOON Entertainment has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that WEBTOON Entertainment will post -0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WEBTOON Entertainment

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 4.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 865,698 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,861,000 after buying an additional 36,175 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 966.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 823,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,479,000 after buying an additional 746,505 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 12.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 505,892 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,594,000 after buying an additional 55,434 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment by 1,312.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 224,887 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,054,000 after buying an additional 208,962 shares during the period. Finally, Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of WEBTOON Entertainment in the first quarter valued at about $1,132,000.

About WEBTOON Entertainment

WEBTOON Entertainment Inc operates a storytelling platform worldwide. The company's platform allows a community of creators and users to discover, create, and share new content. Its platform offers stories primarily in two ways, including web-comics, a graphical comic-like medium; and web-novels, which are text-based stories.