Sony Stock Slides

[Old_Timer!]

source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6159254.html
Sony stock slides 2.75 percent on PS3 concerns
Analysts downgrade electronic giant's stock following reports of PS3 malfunctions at TGS and "disappointing" PSP sales.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Oct 3, 2006 5:03 pm PT

The PlayStation 3 launch is now just over six weeks away, and Sony Corp. stockholders are apparently getting nervous. Today, the Japanese electronic giant's share price slid 130 yen ($1.11) to 4,600 yen ($38.98) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a decline of 2.75 percent.

According to several news-service reports, the stock drop came after two major analysts downgraded Sony's stock on concerns about its gaming division, Sony Computer Entertainment. "We have adopted a cautious view of the impact of the [Sony] game business on the electronics business this term,'' Goldman Sachs analyst Yuji Fujimori told Bloomberg. Fujimori downgraded Sony's rating from "buy" to "neutral" citing "confusion over the release of PlayStation 3 and concerns [about] disappointing sales of [the] PlayStation Portable," according to the Associated Press.

Another Tokyo-based analyst, Macquarie Equities' David Gibson, went one step further. He issued a report expressing concern that many of the 200-plus PS3s on the floor of the Tokyo Game Show "operated erratically and had to be repeatedly reset," according to the AP.

"While the reason for this is unknown, we suspect it may be due to overheating as a result of enclosing the units and the high temperatures at the venue," Gibson said. "We are concerned that such a problem has occurred so close to full production and is clearly negative news for the company."

In its defense, Sony said the PS3 failures were caused by unusually high temperatures created by having many of the next-gen consoles operating in close proximity to each other. "It's not a problem with the PlayStation 3 unit itself," Sony spokeswoman Nanako Kato told the AP. "For a normal player at home, there shouldn't be any problem."

The downgrades come at a bad time for Sony, which is already coping with a massive recall of laptop batteries it manufactured. On Friday, Dell announced that it was increasing the recall of Sony batteries used in its systems from 4.1 million units to 4.2 million units.

On the game front, the company recently had to delay the PS3's European launch to March 2007 and cut day-one inventory of the console to 100,000 units in Japan and 400,000 units in North America. The company says it will still ship 2 million to 2.4 million PS3s by the end of the year.
Sorry to bring this bad news, anyways I didn't hear about PS3's overheating at TGS. It seems these analyst are looking for any crack it's Sony armor to send out a bad report:mad:

[PUNK em 733]

Well you got PSM3 saying it ran slightly warm, to these sacks saying it overheated. I know the PSP sales is involved in the report, but they also are basing their stocks sliding, on a a trade show with pre-production models acting erratically, and spewing garbage about confusion on it's release date. Hasn't the release date been Nov 17 all along since the cancellation of spring '06?

[Delirious]

Which is true though, did it overheat or just run slightly warm? Hopefully sony will have this fixed cause that could result in alot of pissed off ps3ers returning their burned out ps3s after a couple of months.

[Old_Timer!]

Well if there was crashing issues most gaming sites didn't seem to notice, IGN, Gamespot, 1up, etc... even the notorious Kokatu never reported on crashing problems.

[ded5850]

Man. It seems like it's hard to be a Sony fan these days with everyone telling you to think otherwise.

[Old_Timer!]

Which is true though, did it overheat or just run slightly warm? Hopefully sony will have this fixed cause that could result in alot of pissed off ps3ers returning their burned out ps3s after a couple of months.
Don't worry, we can always by an add-on fan like the X360

[PUNK em 733]

If stocks are a sliding cause of defective hardware, then MS should be bankrupt by now.

[Garfunkel]

there was one report that i heard off, 1, different story for the 360's i'm afraid lol.

honestly XBD says they run quiet and cool, and i think we can trust him. as well as the unofficial playstation magazine :)

[section]

People who don't understand rat's ass about stock markets shouldn't write about them. How come nobody writes when Sony's or any other corporations stock rises, even by large margins?

Stocks rise and fall, that's how it normally goes years round. No stock stays at the same value all the time. To say a stock slides when it goes down by few percents is idiotism.

But Gamespot admires journalism by idiotism. Yellow paper news.

[Garfunkel]

People who don't understand rat's ass about stock markets shouldn't write about them. How come nobody writes when Sony's or any other corporations stock rises, even by large margins?

Stocks rise and fall, that's how it normally goes years round. No stock stays at the same value all the time.

Journalism by idiotism.

.

[Metal Sphere]

They fail to note that this is more than likely due to the widely publicized battery failures and the test units at E3 running several early and buggy games (AC4) were prone to crashing just topped it off.

The industry, for some reason, is try to trash Sony left and right even when the announcements are positive.

[Garfunkel]

it is like sony is hated so much now when they have done so much good, yes they do bad, they are out for $$$ but they deserve more respect than this.

[Diresu]

it is like sony is hated so much now when they have done so much good, yes they do bad, they are out for $$$ but they deserve more respect than this.

Why respect Sony when spreading bad news gets you so much more publicity. Oh well, year from now they will all be quiet I believe.

[ddaryl]

Actually I love all the Sony negativity. it's driving the stock price down and creating a great buy in point for a long term investor.

IMO the only thing I worry about is if there are enough problems with launch units that it causes the stock to fall even more. But Sony at $39 a share represents a real good value if you plan to buy and hold the stock for 3- 5 years +.

I am thinking about purchasing some shares, but I'm not to sure I want to do this before launch. If the price gets down to the mid $30's over simple PS3 fears then I will probably jump on the SNE train. I belong to the Motley Fool and I will tap their forums among other avenues for insight to Sony and their future before commiting, but I am watching SNE.

buy low sell high, and with Sony's stock slipping most of this year this is a buying opportunity.

[Kabbage]

yes they do bad, they are out for $$$ Just like every other business on the planet

And is it me or does gamespot only report bad news concerning sony.

*Bet Time*

Greg Kasavin will give Ninja Gaiden Sigma a lower score than NG and NG black (9.4) not because the game doesnt improve the original in several different ways... but because of the platform. *The DMC3 and DMC3: Special Edition Effect* Citing that the difficulty made the game less accessable to new players ; then claiming that Special Edition (Keeping the overall difficulty) just adding a new setting to help balance it out, made it less of a challenge.

[Goki]

Actually I love all the Sony negativity. it's driving the stock price down and creating a great buy in point for a long term investor.

I
buy low sell high, and with Sony's stock slipping most of this year this is a buying opportunity.

Hey Daryl, u planning on buying, ive got some bad petrol stocks that are keep falling, Sony probably wouldn be a bad choice, just wondering if the Nov launch is goog or if I should wait for the EU launch for stocks to go up.

[ddaryl]

Hey Daryl, u planning on buying, ive got some bad petrol stocks that are keep falling, Sony probably wouldn be a bad choice, just wondering if the Nov launch is goog or if I should wait for the EU launch for stocks to go up.


Petrol stocks are falling along with the price of oil. If you are still in the profit zone I would sell Oil stocks now take the profits and re-invest in other sectors especially if your Oil Stocks are not invested in other areas like alternatie fuels. In fact I wouldn't support any Oil company that hasn't made a big time effort to invest in green techologies, but that a personal issue/choice. If you are in the red with your Oil stocks then you need to evaluate their rebound potential. IMHO Oil prices are going to keep falling all winter, and start to rebound in the late spring for the summer driving season. Also any Terrorist tensions could esculate oil fears and drive the stock prices of big oil back up sooner then later.

I own Suncor (SU) A Canadian Oil company who has unlimited access to Oil Sands in British Columbia, but they also have opened a full production Ethenol plant. Suncor has taken a beating recently but I'm sticking with them long term because they are making a transition to green energies.


As for Sony I'd wait and do some research outside of the Sony's Computer Entertainment division. If Sony misses launch estimates, or if there are lots of reported buggy PS3's Sony will take a beating. Also Sony has had it's share of bad news with reduced PS3 shipments, Europe delay, and exploding laptop batteries that will probably keep Sony's stock falling for a little while.

All that being said I am interested in other peoples thoughts about Sony as an investment, and like I said Sony's stock price falling could represent a great investment for the future. Sony is a big corp who has lots of products and lots of ways to rebound, and more then likely they will.

[ddaryl]

Bump and update for those who are interested in stocks and Sony as an investment.

Sony dipped bigtime in early trading sessions, but gained that loss back and ended up even, while the rest of Japan's stock were mostly up for the day.


My target for buying is right around $35, give or take a buck depending on what is happening at the time. I have great faith in the PS3 and bluray but Sony will need more then just the success of these 2 product lines to really make good gains for investors in the 3-5 year term.

[Garfunkel]

they will rebound, i think for Sony the worst is over. to be honest with you i am glad they got smashed over the millions of exploding batteries they manufactured, makes them wake up and smell the ashes.

[masteratt]

About the battery issues. Has it been properly adressed and has a permenant fix been made?

[Applefiend]

They take away your exploding battery and give you a new one. The end companies (Apple, etc) have programs for this.

The thing exploding and showering your face with hot acid.... Is actually quite unlikely, but batteries do ware out in time, so getting a fresh battery is all good for you, all bad for Sony.

The batteries start to swell, making your laptop look pregnant, it's all quite spooky.

[masteratt]

Okay good to know it has been properly addressed.
Now the permenant fix issue: Do the new ones still explode? lol

[Applefiend]

http://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/

More swell than explode really. :) As far as I know the replacements don't. :) Very tricky business Lithium Ion batteries, wrong voltage and fooom!

Actually I just flipped over my MacBook Pro and pulled the battery out, I've got one of the dodgy batteries. See how long I can hang onto it before getting a replacement. :)

Not my one, but they do this:

http://www.cnet.com.au/i/g/240063900/sc001.jpg

http://www.cnet.com.au/i/g/240063900/sc005.jpg

Sony technology working for you. :) Apple, Dell and Toshiba laptops use the Sony batteries, think that's most everyone. :)

Had my dodgy battery for about 8 months I think. No swelling or anything. People get their knickers in a twist over nothing. There's an airline that bans you flying with certain brands of effected laptops, they think the battery will explode and take down the plane. :)

But I'm getting a new battery for free in 6 months, woohoo! After 18 months laptop batteries go to hell...

[section]

So as the answer to this thread was locked I think this one needs to be locked too. Because otherwise the negative news win the positive news :)