Sony (NYSE:SONY) Group Corporation SONY reported solid fourth-quarter fiscal 2020 results, wherein both the top line and the bottom line beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Net Income
On a GAAP basis, Sony’s net income in the March quarter surged 746.3% year over year to ¥107 billion or ¥85.44 per share ($1,010.4 million or 81 cents per share).
In fiscal 2020, net income was ¥1,171.8 billion or ¥936.90 per share compared with ¥582.2 billion or ¥461.23 per share in fiscal 2019.
Quarterly adjusted net income came in at ¥71.2 billion compared with ¥12.6 billion in the prior-year quarter. Also, the bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 44 cents.
Revenues
Quarterly total operating revenues increased 27% year over year to ¥2,220.4 billion ($20,967.2 million). Sales at all segments grew except for Pictures. Also, the top line surpassed the consensus estimate of $19,455 million.
In fiscal 2020, revenues grew 8.9% year over year to ¥8,999.4 billion, mainly driven by substantial increase in sales in the Game & Network Services (G&NS) and Financial Services segments. The momentum was partially offset by a decrease in sales in the Pictures segment.
Quarterly Segment Results
G&NS sales grew 52.3% year over year to ¥660.3 billion, driven by an increase in game software sales including add-on content and hardware sales related to the launch of PlayStation 5. The segment’s operating income was ¥33 billion compared with ¥46.2 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Music sales increased 26.5% year over year to ¥267.4 billion, driven by higher revenues from streaming services for recorded music and sales for visual media and platform. Operating income was ¥40.6 billion, which improved from ¥30.3 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Pictures sales fell 39.2% year over year to ¥200.2 billion. This was due to a decrease in theatrical revenues resulting from theater closures due to COVID-19 and lower sales for television productions due to lower deliveries of new shows. Operating income was ¥1.8 billion compared with ¥23 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S) sales came in at ¥435.2 billion, up 19.8% year over year, driven by an increase in sales of televisions due to an improvement in the product mix. Operating loss was ¥11.5 billion compared with a loss of ¥59.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, driven by reductions in operating costs mainly within mobile communications.
Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS) sales were up 0.5% year over year to ¥232.3 billion. Operating income was ¥20.2 billion compared with ¥34.5 billion in the prior-year quarter. The decline was due to an increase in research and development expenses, depreciation and amortization charges and a negative impact of foreign exchange rates.
Financial Services sales jumped 126.9% year over year to ¥422.9 billion, driven by a significant increase in revenues at Sony Life and improvement in valuation gains and losses on securities at Sony Bank. Operating income was ¥27.1 billion compared with ¥12.1 billion in the year-ago quarter.
All Other sales were up 31.4% to ¥53.5 billion. Operating loss was ¥3.5 billion compared with a loss of ¥4.2 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Other Details
Total expenses were ¥2,158.8 billion, up 25.8% year over year. Overall operating income was ¥66.5 billion, up 87.5%.
Cash Flow & Liquidity
In fiscal 2020, Sony generated ¥1,350.2 billion of net cash from operating activities compared with ¥1,349.7 billion in fiscal 2019.
As of Mar 31, 2021, the company had ¥1,787 billion ($16,142 million) in cash and cash equivalents with ¥773.3 billion ($6,985.2 million) of long-term debt compared with the respective tallies of ¥1,512.4 billion and ¥635 billion a year ago.
FY21 Outlook
Sony has provided its forecast for consolidated results for the fiscal year ending Mar 31, 2022. On an IFRS basis, it expects sales of ¥9,700 billion. Operating income is anticipated to be ¥930 billion. Net income is estimated to be ¥660 billion.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Sony currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader sector are Sonos (NASDAQ:SONO) SONO, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) MU and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) WDC, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Sonos delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 157.2%, on average.
Micron delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 6.5%, on average.
Western Digital delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.9%, on average.
Conversion rate used:
¥1 = $0.009443 (period average from Jan 1, 2021 to Mar 31, 2021)
¥1 = $0.009033 (as of Mar 31, 2021)
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