04:40 AM EDT, 05/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

Sony's ( SONY ) FY 24 (Mar.) EPS fell 3% to JPY785, slightly beating our expectations, despite revenue growth of 19% to JPY13.0 tln. Operating profit (OP) fell by JPY94 bln to JPY1.21 tln (OP margin -2.6%-pts to 9.3) with key drivers being Financials (-JPY145 bln Y/Y, mainly on absence of one-off gains in FY 23), Gaming (+JPY40 bln Y/Y), Music (+JPY38 bln Y/Y), and Semiconductors (-JPY19 bln Y/Y). Sony ( SONY ) also guided for a slightly better FY 25 OP (+5%, or +JPY66 bln) underpinned by Semiconductors (+JPY77 bln), on assuming stronger image sensor sales and production yield. We cut our FY 25 EPS forecast to JPY804 (from JPY850) and start FY 26 EPS at JPY876. We like Sony's ( SONY ) strategy to widen its entertainment (Gaming, Music, and Pictures) profit mix through IP investments and acquisitions, but we believe that near-term earnings will be heavily impacted by sluggish consumer spending. We trim our target price to USD88 (from USD96), valuing Sony ( SONY ) at an unchanged 17x FY 25 P/E.