Sony profit jumps 22% in December quarter, beating expectations and lifting full-year outlook

Sony on Thursday reported an increase in operating profit that beat expectations, despite foreign exchange volatility and higher memory costs. 

Here are Sony’s December quarter results compared with LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate: 

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

Sony’s operating profit jumped 22% from a year earlier, marking a bounce back from a year-on-year decline in the previous quarter. Revenue was up a modest 1% over the same period.

The Japanese technology and entertainment giant boosted its full-year outlook. It now expects operating profit to rise to 1.54 trillion yen, up by an additional 110 billion yen, or 8% from its previous forecast.

Sony also raised its annual revenue projection by 300 billion yen to 12.3 trillion yen, or 3%, while keeping its estimated losses from U.S. tariffs at 50 billion yen.

Sales in the game and network services division, which houses its popular PlayStation home console brand and represents Sony’s top revenue driver, totaled 1.613 trillion yen, down 68.7 billion yen from a year earlier.

While the unit has benefited from a shift to digital game purchases and growth in the PlayStation Plus subscription service in recent quarters, hardware shipment growth has remained more subdued.