"I sold after three straight days of losses — I deeply regret not holding on just one more day," said investor A, in his 20s.
"I thought it was really entering a downtrend. I had no idea it would bounce back like this," said investor B, in his 40s.
Naver's share price has been on a wild ride. After losing nearly 20 percent in just three days as the initial boost from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit faded, the stock reversed course sharply, surging more than 10 percent in a single session.
Amid the volatility, brokerages have been raising their target prices for Naver across the board, with at least one firm setting a target as high as 450,000 won (about $295). The question now is whether Naver, which raised its profile in the AI sector following Huang's visit to South Korea, can sustain an upward trajectory.
Naver closed Thursday at 247,000 won, according to Korea Exchange data — up 10.27 percent from the previous session.
As recently as Wednesday, the stock had been in freefall. After closing at 279,000 won on June 8, shares slid to 257,000 won on June 9, 227,000 won on June 10 and 224,000 won on June 11 — a drop of nearly 20 percent in just three trading days.
With the stock rebounding more than 10 percent in a single day, the market is now watching closely to see whether Naver can sustain a longer-term upswing. Analysts have already signaled optimism, raising their target prices in quick succession.
DS Investment Securities set the most bullish target at 450,000 won — more than 200,000 won above the current price. Hana Securities raised its target to 400,000 won, Kyobo Securities to 390,000 won and LS Securities to 303,000 won.
Expectations are running high as the deepening partnership between Naver and Nvidia has given Naver a clear foothold in the AI sector.
The two companies have agreed to jointly develop gigawatt-scale AI factories globally, with plans to build AI infrastructure spanning not only the Asia-Pacific region but also the Middle East and Europe. The deal is widely seen as elevating Naver from a straightforward GPU customer to a core global partner in Nvidia's AI infrastructure ambitions.
Huang's own words added further momentum. The Nvidia CEO visited Naver's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on June 8. There, he said the company had "partnered with Naver at exactly the right moment, when the world needs AI cloud," and predicted that "once the data center is complete, Naver will be a company 10 times larger."
sjpark@heraldcorp.com
