Sony's quarterly profit up 25%; video game business stops losing money

[Grubert]

TOKYO (AP) -- Sony Corp. reported a 25 percent jump in profit for the October-December quarter Thursday, as its video game business stopped losing money, largely because of cost cuts for the PlayStation 3 console.
Profit at Sony, a Japanese electronics and entertainment company behind the Walkman portable player, climbed to 200.2 billion yen ($1.88 billion) for the three months ended Dec. 31, from 159.9 billion yen in the same period the previous year.

But profitability at Sony's core electronics business declined for the quarter compared to a year earlier because of plunging gadget prices that offset some of the positive impact of improved sales, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080131/japan...sony.html?.v=1

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Grubert

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080131/japan...sony.html?.v=1

Although it is true that Sony reported a 25% increase in net profit for the October-December 2007 period, it also reduced its operating profit forecast for the whole year mainly due to the impact of a stronger yen on its exports.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...1B389619917%7D

Another factor that worries many consumer electronic firms is the strong possibility of a recession in 2008.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...yhoo&dist=yhoo

[getblu]

i think Europe and Asia will survive a US recession this time around.

Interest rates are still going up in Australia.

[shueardm]

A Blu-friend in my own town - hi.
Yup, I agree with you.

[tqlla]

To people who continue to quote the $400 loss per console.....In your face!

[atrofast]

Sony shares are up 3.57% on the Nikkei... We'll see a similar gain on the NYSE when it opens this morning... I wish I had a lot of cash yesterday... I would've bought Sony call options for all of it! I was fairly certain they would beat the expected earnings so it would've been nice extra cash

[Maximus]

I did give all of you a nice little tip last night, though I wouldn't want anyone to go down for insider trading...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=148

Watch for Sony's earnings conference call tomorrow, it should prove to be interesting, especially results from SCE...

[Slec]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

I did give all of you a nice little tip last night, though I wouldn't want anyone to go down for insider trading...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=148

I saw the post last night and this was one of the first things I went looking for this am. THANKS!

[ezcobar411]

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

I did give all of you a nice little tip last night, though I wouldn't want anyone to go down for insider trading...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=148

Thanks for the info. I'm happy to hear that Sony is doing so well. I was hoping that the gaming division would become profitable soon. Now that it is, that is one less ding on the organization. I would like to see how the company approaches the next fiscal year. Hoping for great games.

[Blubaru]

Originally Posted by getblu

i think Europe and Asia will survive a US recession this time around.

Interest rates are still going up in Australia.

The AUD is doing well because it's a commodity currency. Nothing more, nothing less.

Commodities are the hot thing right now. If you currency is not a commodity currency it's just gonna tank like the rest of them. Except for maybe the CHF. That always seems to do ok.

Europe is stronger then before but it will still take a hit from other currencies that are doing poorly(USD, GBP etc) That and the fact that the ECB doesn’t seem able or ready to combat any sort of economic turmoil in the future. It has investors uneasy to say the least.

It's a lagging effect though. The economic slowdown will hit Europe sooner of later.


Kudos to Sony though!!

[blix01]

here's the replay of the 8:30amEST conference call:
http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_...08/1-31-08.htm

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Although it is true that Sony reported a 25% increase in net profit for the October-December 2007 period, it also reduced its operating profit forecast for the whole year mainly due to the impact of a stronger yen on its exports.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...1B389619917%7D

Another factor that worries many consumer electronic firms is the strong possibility of a recession in 2008.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...yhoo&dist=yhoo

In my earlier comments in this forum, I raised some concerns over the fact that Sony lowered its annual net operating income forecast. As a result, Sony and many other Asian stocks tumbled on Thursday, January 31, 2008.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...D&siteid=yhoof

[Neo65]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Although it is true that Sony reported a 25% increase in net profit for the October-December 2007 period, it also reduced its operating profit forecast for the whole year mainly due to the impact of a stronger yen on its exports.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...1B389619917%7D

Another factor that worries many consumer electronic firms is the strong possibility of a recession in 2008.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Stor...yhoo&dist=yhoo

The chip supply chain business is run using USD, so is assembly of boxes, hence while the sales of PS3 into US will be neutral to fluctuations in exchange rate, outside of US, the lower costs due to the currency is better for them.

People like to think that the PS3 is expensive to build, but lets not forget that even today PS3s are still very expensive boxes as far as toys go, and measured against natural price reductions of components and drives, breaking even is not THAT hard.

[Blu-Ray Buckeye]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

In my earlier comments in this forum, I raised some concerns over the fact that Sony lowered its annual net operating income forecast. As a result, Sony and many other Asian stocks tumbled on Thursday, January 31, 2008.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...D&siteid=yhoof

But people here are not really interested that much in the outlook of Sony overall but the specific points regarding PS3, gaming and blu-ray. The fact that they lowered outlook due to the economy isn't a dark cloud to that specific issue.

The bottom line point that no one has said outright is, Sony Gaming turned a profit a year faster than Microsoft was able to do after its next-gen launch. You'll recall that MS just turned its first quarterly profit in its gaming division this past qtr as well... yet launched a year earlier. Who is having the better launch? But what would the media have us believe? I even love the wording on the OP's original linked story, "as gaming division STOPS LOSING MONEY". Maybe they could phrase it in a more negative tone. Yet for MS the headline was how gaming turned a profit... much more upbeat.