S&P Ups Sony (stock) to Sell

[Aleman]

http://www.businessweek.com/investor...tech+investing

The S&P research group upgraded Sony stock from "Strong Sell" to "Sell" on 5/30. What's interesting is this part:

After management's recent fiscal year 2007 (ending March) guidance, we continue to believe that any potential upside in share price would be limited by a lack of visibility in Sony's games division.

I wasn't sure what visibility meant in stock terms so I looked it up:

http://www.investorwords.com/5846/visibility.html

The level of predictability of upcoming financial data about a company, especially sales and earnings. When the numbers are fairly easy to predict, visibility is said to be high.

So I guess S&P Research isn't too sure of how well the PS3 will sell. I'm guessing it's likely due to the price or manufacturing concerns.

[burgniel]

Or they know that the PS3 will not be out until after March 2007.
Which as an extremely scary thought.

[rick1991]

No, sony have announced their launch dates. As aleman said, it is because s&p cannot forsee the ps3 sales.

[IPB]

I think it's probably more to do with the fact that PS3 will sell at a loss, not on how well it will sell. Because, chances are, it's going to sell out.

[Aleman]

I think it's probably more to do with the fact that PS3 will sell at a loss, not on how well it will sell. Because, chances are, it's going to sell out.

That's why I thought that it might be due to manufacturing concerns. Maybe they're not seeing enough $$ being allocated for manufacturing for Sony to meet their launch goals or something.

[Carousel]

I dont think its about how well the Ps3 will sell, its about how much money theyre going to make. Remember, Sony are takin a loss on every console, so they could sell out at launch, but if no-one buys games or peripherals to make up the cost then Sony aint gonna make a profit, and that aint good if youre a stockholder.

[xmokshax]

well, if it was upgraded from "Strong Sell" to "Sell", i would think S&P researchers have at least seen some positive progress of late, whether from E3 announcements or financial/manufacturing info that we don't know about. that's the bright side...

[Aleman]

well, if it was upgraded from "Strong Sell" to "Sell", i would think S&P researchers have at least seen some positive progress of late, whether from E3 announcements or financial/manufacturing info that we don't know about. that's the bright side...

The upgrade was likely due to other divisions since they still cite the gaming division as the limiting factor.

[Mr.Smith]

Investers will be watching the attachment rate because this is where Sony needs the money. They will be loosing on Hardware sales. They will sell out of PS3's on launch but it's 6-8 months down the road after that will be key. I think the price alone will turn off the casual gamer and they will either wait or try out another console. Sony just want's to saturate the market with the BLue Ray player in order to get more backing with their format and it becoming the standard. It's not going to be about the launch it's going to be about Q3-Q4l of 2007.

[Organic_Shadow]

I think there are a lot of things Sony/IBM/nVidia/etc. could be more vocal about in the whole PS3 fiasco, but just aren't, and could play a bigger role in how Sony is doing the market.

At the same time these things may or may not be beneficial, but at least people would be buying/selling stock based off facts, and not the lack thereof.

[Aleman]

I think there are a lot of things Sony/IBM/nVidia/etc. could be more vocal about in the whole PS3 fiasco, but just aren't, and could play a bigger role in how Sony is doing the market.

At the same time these things may or may not be beneficial, but at least people would be buying/selling stock based off facts, and not the lack thereof.

These recommendations are the result of people digging into hundreds of pages of Sony's financial records. Sony is required to provide investors with documents that detail exactly where all the money is being spent, what lawsuits are going on, how much execs are getting paid, how they think they're going to do in the future, etc.

Every stockholder gets this information but it is really overwhelming to go through. So trained people at S&P and other stock research companies are pretty much doing the work for you. Serious investors dive through it themselves so they can stay ahead of the curve, cause that's how you make $$.

[gringo]

Buy it while its low.
You'll make a killing next year when Sony takes over the market.

[Mr.Smith]

These recommendations are the result of people digging into hundreds of pages of Sony's financial pages. Sony is required to provide investors with documents that detail exactly where all the money is being spent, what lawsuits are going on, how much execs are getting paid, how they think they're going to do in the future, etc.

Every stockholder gets this information but it is really overwhelming to go through. So trained people at S&P and other stock research companies are pretty much doing the work for you. Serious investors dive through it themselves so they can stay ahead of the curve, cause that's how you make $$.

Your right it is called a prospective.

[coffeegod]

Again this is just speculation, these statement only have to do with money. Factors you and I take into consideration mean nothing to these people.

[DarkChild]

something i just thought of. people are saying that the cost will turn away gamers. buy yet the x360 has a very good peripheral to system attach rate. in knowing that why wouldn't the ps3 sell at it's current cost given that the peripherals are included with the system at about the same cost or less it takes to get with the xbox. i'm not trying to turn this into a xbox vs ps battle just wanna point out that the xbox attach rate is about 4 to 1 so not needing all those accessories with the ps3 is a positive.