NCsoft Corp. and Samsung SDS Co. are in the limelight after their stocks have continued to draw interest from foreign investors, outperforming most stocks on South Korean main bourses hit hard by escalating geopolitical risks.

Foreign investors have net purchased shares of NCsoft, Korea’s biggest online game company, and Samsung SDS, the IT solutions unit of the country’s biggest conglomerate Samsung Group, in nine out of the recent ten trading days as of Sunday. Offshore investors’ strong appetite for their stocks is considered unusual, given that the country’s benchmark Kospi index has been dragged down by net foreign selling in seven sessions during the cited period.

Foreign net buying of their stocks also comes after Hong Kong-based investment bank CLSA gave a sell rating on the two stocks last month. The adversary impact of the report on the stocks had not lasted long after the bank’s credibility took a hit when it revised upward its sales estimate of Lineage M, the mobile version of NCsoft’s blockbuster PC game Lineage, by nearly threefold from the previous projection published just a month earlier. Launched in June, the game raked in sales of over 100 billion won ($87.8 million) in just 12 days. Yet CLSA set NCsoft’s price target at 300,000 won, well below the current price of around 380,000 won. Its shares closed Monday up 0.39 percent at 388,000 won.

Unlike CLSA, local securities firms have presented high targets for the Korean game publisher. “Lineage M is on a solid growth streak and its popularity is expected to continue,” said Hwang Seung-taek, analyst at Hana Financial Investment Co.

According to market data provider FnGuide, NCsoft’s operating profit in 2017 is projected to jump by more than 70 percent on year to reach 570 billion won.

Samsung SDS shares have been also drawing interest from investors thanks to progress in innovative technologies such as blockchain, a ledger where all participants share encrypted data, rather than having a centralized ledger managed by a reputable intermediary. “The company’s massive cash pile means there are plenty of growth opportunities through mergers and acquisitions,” said Sung Jong-hwa, an analyst at eBest Investment & Securities Co.

The company is expected to end the year with an operating profit of over 730 billion won, up 16 percent from the year-ago period, according to market analysts. Its shares finished Monday at 174,500 won, up 2,000 won or 1.16 percent from the previous session.

By Hong Jang-won

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