Sony Boosts Profit Forecast As Music, Entertainment, Financial Segments Post Upbeat Q2

Sony Group Corp SONY reported second-quarter FY22 sales growth of 16% year-on-year to ¥2.75 trillion. Segments & Profits: Game & Network Services revenue increased 12% Y/Y to ¥720.7 billion, and operating income declined by 49% Y/Y to ¥42.1 billion.
Music revenue rose 32% Y/Y to ¥359.3 billion, and operating income increased by 56% Y/Y to ¥78.7 billion.
Pictures revenue increased by 29% Y/Y to ¥337.5 billion, and operating income fell by 13% Y/Y to ¥27.6 billion.
Entertainment, Technology & Services revenue grew 16% Y/Y to ¥677 billion, and operating income increased by 7% Y/Y to ¥77.8 billion.
Imaging & Sensing Solutions revenue increased by 43% Y/Y to ¥398.4 billion, and operating income rose by 49% Y/Y to ¥74 billion.
Financial Services revenue rose by 17% Y/Y to ¥304.5 billion, and operating income increased by 27% Y/Y to ¥54.6 billion.
Consolidated operating income grew 8% Y/Y to ¥344 billion. EPS was ¥212.29.
Sony sold 3.3 million PS5 units in the quarter, the same as the previous year. The gaming division sold fewer physical software copies this year, with 62.5 million units, down 18% from the same quarter a year ago.
Sony held ¥1.21 trillion in cash and equivalents.
Outlook: Sony raised its FY22 operating profit outlook to ¥1.16 trillion from ¥1.11 trillion.
A boost in streaming sales from its music publishing business helped fuel the earnings revision, along with a weak yen that bolstered overseas sales of image sensors used in Apple Inc's AAPL premium iPhones, Bloomberg reports.
In its core games business, Sony aims to beat its current outlook to sell 18 million units of the PlayStation 5 console in the year ending March and will target sales of 23 million PS5 units in the following fiscal year.
"God of War, if coupled with better hardware availability, could prop up momentum, but I expect any recovery for the division to be limited," the report cited Morningstar Research analyst Kazunori Ito.
Price Action: SONY shares closed lower by 0.56% at $67.47 on Monday.
Photo Via Flickr