Sony stock jumps 11% after electronics giant reports 'blow-out set of results'
Shares of Sony (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6758.T-JP) popped on Wednesday morning, touching a nine-year high after rising more than 11 percent early in the session. The move in share price came after the Japanese consumer electronics giant revised upward its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 2018, and announced expectation-topping quarterly results on Tuesday. The company said it expected full-year profit to come in at 630 billion yen ($5.5 billion) — a 26 percent increase from the 500 billion yen it had forecast in August. The revised profit figure was substantially higher than Sony's record 525.7 billion yen profit in 1998 and the 585.5 billion yen the company had been forecast to make this year, according to a Thomson Reuters Starmine SmartEstimate survey.Reasons for the upward revision included strength in the semiconductor and home entertainment segments, as well as amendments to the assumed foreign exchange rates, the company said.Meanwhile, Sony's operating profit for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2017, rose 346 percent to 204 billion yen ($1.79 billion), beating the 140.5 billion yen estimated in a Reuters survey. "This is not your granddad's Sony," Michael Robinson, chief technology strategist at Moneymorning.com, told CNBC's " Squawk Box ," indicating that restructuring efforts at the company that began in 2014 under CEO Kazuo Hirai had paid off. Jefferies reiterated its "strong buy" call on Sony stock following what it called "a blow-out set of results.""We have confidently maintained operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March 2018 at 664 billion yen, well above everyone else's (consensus of 582 billion yen)," Jefferies analysts said in an Oct. 31 note.Sony's full-year operating profit for the current fiscal year could potentially top the consensus forecast of 673 billion yen for the year ending in March 2020, said Atul Goyal and Chengyao Zhang of Jefferies.They added: "Sony's revised guidance of 630 billion yen (which we see as conservative) is not only higher than street operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2018, but is higher than street forecasts [of 621 billion yen] for the fiscal year ending March 2019 as well."Sony shares were up 9.93 percent at 11:47 a.m. HK/SIN and have risen by more than 40 percent year-to-date. Shares of Sony (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6758.T-JP) popped on Wednesday morning, touching a nine-year high after rising more than 11 percent early in the session. The move in share price came after the Japanese consumer electronics giant revised upward its profit forecast for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 2018, and announced expectation-topping quarterly results on Tuesday. The company said it expected full-year profit to come in at 630 billion yen ($5.5 billion) — a 26 percent increase from the 500 billion yen it had forecast in August. The revised profit figure was substantially higher than Sony's record 525.7 billion yen profit in 1998 and the 585.5 billion yen the company had been forecast to make this year, according to a Thomson Reuters Starmine SmartEstimate survey. Reasons for the upward revision included strength in the semiconductor and home entertainment segments, as well as amendments to the assumed foreign exchange rates, the company said. Meanwhile, Sony's operating profit for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2017, rose 346 percent to 204 billion yen ($1.79 billion), beating the 140.5 billion yen estimated in a Reuters survey. "This is not your granddad's Sony," Michael Robinson, chief technology strategist at Moneymorning.com, told CNBC's " Squawk Box ," indicating that restructuring efforts at the company that began in 2014 under CEO Kazuo Hirai had paid off. Jefferies reiterated its "strong buy" call on Sony stock following what it called "a blow-out set of results." "We have confidently maintained operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March 2018 at 664 billion yen, well above everyone else's (consensus of 582 billion yen)," Jefferies analysts said in an Oct. 31 note. Sony's full-year operating profit for the current fiscal year could potentially top the consensus forecast of 673 billion yen for the year ending in March 2020, said Atul Goyal and Chengyao Zhang of Jefferies. They added: "Sony's revised guidance of 630 billion yen (which we see as conservative) is not only higher than street operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 2018, but is higher than street forecasts [of 621 billion yen] for the fiscal year ending March 2019 as well." Sony shares were up 9.93 percent at 11:47 a.m. HK/SIN and have risen by more than 40 percent year-to-date.
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