By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd on Monday hiked the full-year sales forecast for its Switch console to 26.5 million units from 24 million units previously after a bumper end to the year for the hit device.
The Kyoto-based firm said it sold 24.1 million hardware units in the first nine months of the financial year ending in March 2021 – more than its previous full-year forecast – comprising 16.8 million hybrid home-portable Switch consoles and 7.3 million portable-only Switch Lite devices.
Operating profit in the nine months ended December was 521 billion yen ($4.98 billion), doubling from 263 billion yen a year earlier.
Investors are weighing if Nintendo can retain its momentum this year amid anticipation of big name releases after its pipeline was padded in final months of last year with remastered titles from franchises like “Super Mario” and “Pikmin”.
Nintendo shares closed up 3.4% at 62,640 yen ahead of the earnings release after reaching a 13-year high of 67,600 yen in mid-December.
“With each passing quarter and with every increase in stock price, the downside from cyclical peak is also increasing,” Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal, who has a price target of 72,800 yen, wrote in a note ahead of earnings.
Nintendo faces competition from next generation devices from Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp. Both devices are in short supply globally in the face of overwhelming demand.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
