Sony Profit Drops, But Company Boosts Outlook

Japanese electronics giant Sony reported a drop in quarterly profit Tuesday, but boosted its earnings outlook for the full year.

Sony said net income fell 5.3% to $1.344 billion in its fiscal third quarter, which ended December. Operating income, excluding certain items, slipped 14.9% to $1.5 billion. The company said its video game business lost money during the quarter due to discount prices for its PlayStation 3 game console.

But Sony raised its profit forecast for the full fiscal year through March to $03 million, from the earlier forecast of $657 million, citing brighter prospects for its electronics operations.

Sales rose about 10% from the same quarter a year ago to $21.9 billion.

"(Results weren't) a big disappointment, but it won't be a catalyst to push the stock price higher," Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manger at Ichiyoshi Investment Management told Reuters. "Investors had anticipated a better outlook as Sony had said its game business was doing as anticipated and its TV business was growing. But the upgrade was not as much as the market had hoped and that's negative."

Sony released results after the close of trading in Tokyo, but the stock fell 0.7% in Frankfurt.