Nintendo Wii Anticipation Drives Shares to Multi-Year Highs

Less than two weeks ago I made a post entitled, "Nintendo's Run Not Over Yet." And it still looks like there's more upside despite another 20% gain during this period making it 72% gained year-to-date and 116% gained over 52-weeks for its ordinary shares (Tokyo: 7974). Also, Merrill Lynch gives Nintendo the nod with a target share price hike, whereas it has been doubtful of Sony's (SNE) PS3 all along.

Last Friday, an article on Yahoo! Finance Japan written by Kabushiki Shimbun said the 14th of this month could be the big day when Nintendo announces the official launch date and pricing for its much anticipated Wii game console. Nintendo is scheduled to host an informational event for the Wii in Japan on the 14th and apparently is hosting similar Wii-related events in other major cities around the world.

Through Monday trading in Tokyo, Nintendo had closed higher for six-consecutive trading sessions reaching a six-and-a-half year high.

FISCO news service of Japan reports that a Merrill Lynch (MER) research report from last Friday acknowledged the anticipation building up for the Wii and believes it will be a factor in pushing its share price higher. As a result Merrill lifted its target share price to 27,000 yen ($28.78 ADR equivalent) from 23,000 yen ($24.51 ADR equivalent).

A Daiwa Institute of Research report I commented on in an earlier post hyperlinked at the beginning of this post sees Nintendo's ordinary shares theoretically trading up to between 25,000 yen ($26.64 ADR equivalent) and 30,000 yen ($31.97 ADR equivalent). The first amount is based on the Nintendo 64 launch and the second is based on the Super Nintendo.

At the end of Friday trading at $26.35 a share, Nintendo's ADRs (NTDOY.PK) have gained 72% ytd and 102% over 52-weeks.

Nintendo's ordinary shares closed Monday at 24,860 yen ($26.49 ADR equivalent). In the morning session today in Tokyo its ordinary shares are trading lower by about 1.60%.

Nintendo Ltd (NTDOY.PK) 1-year chart: