Hona? PSSH! They are worth more than
**SONY!**
http://www.forbes.com/markets/...25/n...25markets3.html
HONG KONG -
Nintendo has become the undisputed favorite of investors for a play on game consoles. Continuing a solid run over the past year, it surged past larger rival Sony on Monday in terms of market capitalization, moving into the top 10 among Japanese companies.
Nintendo (other-otc: NTDOY - news - people ) shares rose as high as 46,350 yen ($374.50) Monday morning in Osaka, giving the Kyoto-based company a market cap of 6.56 trillion yen ($52.9 billion) compared to 6.49 trillion ($52.3 billion) for Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ). It fell back below Sony in the early afternoon as investors took profits, dropping 50 yen (40 cents), or 0.11%, to 45,400 yen ($366). Sony was trading at 6,470 yen ($52), down 80 yen (65 cents), or 1.22%.
Nintendo surpassed Matsushita Electric Industrial (nyse: MC - news - people ), which sells consumer electronics under the Panasonic brand, in market value last Wednesday.
Canon (nyse: CAJ - news - people ) is the No. 1 Japanese consumer electronics company by market value.
The discrepancy between investors? perceptions of Nintendo and Sony is wide considering that Sony?s group annual sales for the fiscal year that ended in March, at 8.78 trillion ($71 billion), were about nine times larger than Nintendo?s 966 billion yen ($7.8 billion), and its income before taxes, at 420 billion yen ($3.39 billion) is about 1.5 times bigger than Nintendo?s. However, in gaming, Sony has fallen far behind of Nintendo, with 232 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in losses for its video game operations during the same period.
In the past three months Nintendo?s stock has risen by a third while Sony fluctuated between 5,860 yen ($47.30) and 7,150 yen ($57.70). Nintendo?s shares more than doubled in 2006.
However, given its rapid sales and income growth and debt-free balance sheet, it's hard to say that its shares are overvalued.
Nintendo has won over investors? money with the Wii, a low-cost, stripped-down console aimed at neophyte gamers. It features simple games revolving around an innovative motion-sensitive controller that allows users to play virtual tennis or bowl by making motions that mimic those of the real sports.
By contrast, Sony has found it hard to recoup its investment on the expensive PlayStation 3 and recently restructured its game division by laying off staff in the U.S. (See: ? Sony Cuts Back Game Unit?)
A runaway success, Wii is outselling the PS3 by two to one in the important U.S. market, having sold 2.8 million units versus 1.4 million for Sony through May, according to NPD Group. In May, Nintendo outsold Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people )?s Xbox 360 by two to one.
In Japan, it outsold the PS3 by five to one in May, a ratio that is expected to come down to three to one by year end but is still a substantial lead for Nintendo.
Demand for its DS handheld game players has also been much stronger than for Sony's PlayStation Portable.
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as of TODAY..
Nintendo -- $63 billion
http://investing.businessweek....pshot.asp?capid=875940
Sony -- $49 billion
http://investing.businessweek....sp?bridgesymbol=US;SNE