UPDATE 1-Sony up 7 pct on robust Q2, TV and game in focus

Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:52pm EDT
 
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(Updates with analyst comment)

TOKYO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Shares in Sony Corp (6758.T) jumped more than 7 percent on Friday after the company swung to a quarterly operating profit and raised its annual outlook, but analysts said uncertainty remains for its game and TV businesses.

Shares in Sony were up 7.6 percent at 5,500 yen by 0134 GMT, outperforming the electronic subindex .IELEC.T, which rose 1.4 percent.

Sony said on Thursday its operating profit in July-September came to 90.47 billion yen ($792.2 million), in a reversal from a loss of 20.83 billion yen a year earlier, thanks to strong sales of personal computers and digital cameras.

Net profit soared to 73.72 billion yen from 1.68 billion yen a year earlier, a record second-quarter figure.

Koichi Hariya, senior analyst at Mizuho Securities said the earnings improved partly because of one-time factors such as sales of property assets.

"It's still uncertain that flat TVs and games, both of which have been struggling, could improve dramatically," he said. "We need to remain cautious."

Goldman Sachs kept a "buy" rating on the stock but said some issues remain.

"Adjusted for write-downs, the game business was stronger than expected in the second quarter, but issues such as a delayed return to profitability in LCD TVs remain," Goldman said in a report on Friday. Goldman said it would monitor sales of LCD TVs and the PlayStation 3 game consoles during the Christmas season.

 

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