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

Sony on Thursday reported a rise in operating profit that beat expectations, supported by favorable foreign exchange rates despite surging memory chip 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

Operating profit jumped 22% from a year earlier, rebounding 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 raised its full-year outlook and now expects operating profit of 1.54 trillion yen, an increase of 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.

Sony’s hardware business is expected to face headwinds this year from rising component costs.

PlayStation consoles rely on a type of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips, which are in short supply as demand from artificial intelligence and data center operators increases.

As a result, contract prices for conventional DRAM chips are projected to rise 90% to 95% in the current quarter from the previous three months, according to a report from market researcher TrendForce on Monday.

Last month, a top semiconductor industry CEO told CNBC that the memory chip shortage was expected to persist through 2027.

Offsetting some of the pressure on the gaming business were stronger results from its music and imaging segments.

Revenue in Sony’s music business rose 12.6% from a year earlier in the December quarter, supported by growth in live events, merchandising and streaming services.

Meanwhile, its imaging and sensing solutions business grew by over 20% in revenue. The unit specializes in the development and manufacturing of semiconductor-based imaging and sensing technologies.