Why Sony Stock Is Soaring Today

Shares of Sony (NYSE: SONY) are seeing strong bullish momentum in Thursday's trading. The Japanese tech giant's share price was up 6% as of 12:30 p.m. ET today and had been up as much as 9.4% earlier in the day.

Before the market opened this morning, Sony published results for the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31. The company posted sales and earnings for the period that beat the average analyst estimates and raised its full-year guidance above its own targets and Wall Street's expectations.

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Sony stock surges on strong fiscal Q3 numbers

Sony posted earnings per share of 61.82 yen ($0.41) on revenue of 4.4 trillion yen ($28.97 billion) in the third quarter of its current fiscal year. The average Wall Street forecast had called for per-share earnings of $0.30 on sales of $23.78 billion in the period.

Revenue increased roughly 18% year over year in the period and came in far better than Wall Street expected. Sales for the company's game and network services division rose 16% year over year, and its music, film, and financial services segments also saw strong growth.

Notably, the company sold 9.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the holiday quarter, improving from 8.2 million units in last year's quarter. Largely thanks to the better-than-expected console and game sales, management raised the business' full-year sales target.

What's next for Sony?

Following its expectation-beating third quarter, Sony raised its sales target for fiscal 2024 to about $86 billion. The new target represents a roughly 4% increase from the guidance it gave with its last quarterly report in November. The company also raised its full-year operating profit target to about $8.6 billion, up 2% from its last guidance.

The gaming division continues to be its biggest performance driver, and better-than-anticipated longevity for the PlayStation 5 platform bodes well for the near-term outlook. The fiscal second quarter had seen sales for the gaming console fall 22% year over year, but a roughly 16% increase in unit sales for the platform in the fiscal third quarter (which includes the crucial holiday sales window) is a good sign. Higher sales for third-party games and network services in the period are also positive indicators.

With the PlayStation 5 now getting to the latter half of its product life cycle, the extent of its longevity will be a key factor in shaping the company's performance over the next several years. Some forecasts suggest that the PlayStation 6 will be launched in the fall of 2026, and strong performance from the current version in the intervening months will be crucial to powering good results for the business.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.