Nintendo Posts Strong Q1, Boosts Full-Year Forecast

As expected, Nintendo (NTDOY) benefited from strong sales of its DS Lite handheld console, resulting in a Q1 y-o-y 85% increase in sales and 10+% increase in net income. Its weak area continues to be home consoles, although that could change this autumn when it releases its "wand" equipped Wii.

Nintendo raised its full-year forecast of net income by nearly 27% to 83 billion yen ($712m) and raised sales projections by about 7% to 640 billion yen ($5.5b).

For further earnings details see coverage by AP's Yuri Kageyama here.

Also click here for Nintendo's earnings release (in .pdf).

Nintendo's ordinary shares (Tokyo: 7974) gained 1.61% ahead of its after hours earnings release to close at 20,840 yen (equivalent to $22.36 for its ADRs at the current exchange rate). Its ADRs closed Friday up 2.59% at $21.75. Its ordinary shares have gained over 44% since the start of the year and its ADRs are likewise up 42+%. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts and if its full-year revised forecast is enough to keep pushing its shares higher.

Nintendo Ltd (NTDOY) 1-year chart: