Sony posts Q4 loss, sees growth in TVs, games

By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Nathan Layne

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted a surprise quarterly loss on Wednesday after a weak stock market ate into the value of securities held by its financial arm, but forecast a bigger-than-expected profit this year.

It suffered an operating loss of 4.7 billion yen ($45 million) in January through March, an improvement from a 113 billion yen loss a year earlier but short of an average estimate of a 27.3 billion yen profit from five analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Sony, locked in a three-way battle with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the game industry, has been able to narrow losses on the PlayStation 3 game console by cutting manufacturing costs and expanding sales.

It aims to turn its videogame and TV operations into profit this year.

The electronics and entertainment conglomerate has also enjoyed strong sales of Cyber-shot digital cameras, VAIO PCs and Handycam video camera, helping push its operating profit up more than five-fold in the business year that ended on March 31.

"Considering that Sony was operating under adverse economic conditions, including a strong yen, both the results and outlook seem to show that Sony's stamina has grown stronger," said Kazuhara Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research.

Sony shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange rose 7.4 percent to $49.48 in morning trade on Wednesday after the results.

Sony has been cutting jobs and shedding non-core assets over the past three years in far-reaching turnaround efforts led by Chief Executive Howard Stringer. The company plans to disclose its new business strategy in June.