Sony reports 22% jump in December-quarter profit, beats expectations and lifts full-year outlook

sony On Thursday, it reported a jump in operating profit that beat expectations, boosted by favorable exchange rates despite rising memory chip costs.

Here are Sony’s December quarter results compared to LSEG SmartEstimates, weighted by analysts’ estimates, which are more consistently accurate:

• Revenue: 3.71 trillion Japanese yen ($23.68 billion) and 3.69 trillion yen
• Operating profit: 515 billion yen etc. 468.9 billion yen

Operating profit increased 22% year-over-year, recovering from an annual decline in the previous quarter. Revenue increased by a modest 1% over the same period.

The Japanese tech and entertainment giant raised its full-year outlook and now expects operating profit of 1.54 trillion yen, up 110 billion yen, or 8%, from its previous forecast.

Sony’s shares rose more than 5% following the earnings release, before falling back down 0.87% as of 1:21 p.m. local time.

Sony also raised its annual revenue forecast by 300 billion yen to 12.3 trillion yen, or 3%, while keeping its estimated loss from US tariffs at 50 billion yen.

Sales in the gaming and network services division, which houses the popular PlayStation home console brand and represents Sony’s biggest revenue driver, totaled 1.613 trillion yen, down 68.7 billion yen from the previous year.

While the unit has benefited from a shift to digital game purchases and growth in its PlayStation Plus subscription service in recent quarters, growth in hardware shipments has been weaker.

Sony’s hardware business is expected to face headwinds this year due to rising component costs.

PlayStation consoles rely on a type of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips that are becoming in short supply as demand from artificial intelligence and data center operators grows.

As a result, contract prices for traditional DRAM chips are expected to increase by 90% to 95% this quarter compared to the previous three months. report From market researcher TrendForce on Monday.

Last month, one of the semiconductor industry’s leading CEOs told CNBC that the memory chip shortage is expected to continue through 2027.

Stronger results from the music and imaging segments offset some of the pressure on the gaming business.

Revenue from Sony’s music business rose 12.6% from the previous year’s December quarter, driven by growth in live events, sales and streaming services.

Meanwhile, revenue for the imaging and sensing solutions business grew more than 20%. The unit specializes in the development and production of semiconductor-based imaging and sensing technologies.