Sony Group Corp (NYSE: SONY) reported third-quarter FY23 sales growth of 22% year-on-year to $25.34 billion (¥3.75 trillion), beating the consensus of $24.62 billion.
Adjusted EPS of $1.99 beat the consensus of $1.65. The stock price gained premarket.
Segments & Profits: Game & Network Services (G&NS) revenue increased 16% Y/Y to ¥1.4 trillion, and operating income declined by 26% Y/Y to ¥86.1 billion.
Music revenue rose 16% Y/Y to ¥422.1 billion, and operating income increased by 21% Y/Y to ¥76.1 billion. Pictures revenue increased by 10% Y/Y to ¥366.3 billion, and operating income improved by 64% Y/Y to ¥41.6 billion.
Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) revenue fell by 2% Y/Y to ¥735.7 billion, and operating income declined by 5% Y/Y to ¥77.2 billion. Imaging & Sensing Solutions revenue (I&SS) increased by 21% Y/Y to ¥505.2 billion, and operating income climbed by 18% Y/Y to ¥99.7 billion.
Financial Services revenue improved from ¥24.4 billion to ¥311.7 billion, and operating income increased by 64% Y/Y to ¥77.3 billion. Consolidated operating income rose by 10% Y/Y to ¥463.3 billion.
Sony sold 8.2 million PS5 units in the quarter versus 7.1 million a year ago. It held ¥2.02 trillion in cash and equivalents.
Outlook and IPO: Sony revised its FY23 sales outlook to $86.62 billion (¥12.4 trillion), down from a prior forecast of ¥12.3 trillion versus the consensus of $87.32 billion. The company projected an operating income of ¥1.180 trillion, up from the previous guide of ¥1.170 trillion, and raised its net income attributable outlook to $6.48 billion (¥920 billion), up from the earlier projection of ¥880 billion.
Sony now looks to sell 21 million PlayStation 5 units this fiscal year, down from the prior forecast of 25 million after sales of its flagship PS5 came in roughly a million units lower than projected in the December quarter despite the October release of PS5 exclusive, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 which sold 2.5 million copies in its first 24 hours, Bloomberg reports.
The company shared plans to list its financial arm in October 2025, prepping a significant capital infusion to reverse a $3.7 billion take-private deal concluded in 2020.
Price Action: SONY shares traded higher by 3.29% at $99.01 premarket on the last check Wednesday.