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SONY Announces to Lay Off 8% of the PlayStation Workforce
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Sony Corporation’s (SONY - Free Report) subsidiary Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) recently announced to lay off 8% (roughly 900 people) of the PlayStation workforce globally, including its own studios. The layoffs at Sony came amid weakening video gaming industry trends.
In the United States, SIE announced that Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, along with Technology, Creative and Support teams were affected by layoffs.
In the United Kingdom, SONY is shutting down its entire London PlayStation Studio while there will be layoffs at its Guerrilla and Firesprite studio. There will also be reductions at SIE’s various other teams in the country.
A few days back, SONY had slashed its PlayStation 5 (PS5) sales target to 21 million units for fiscal 2023 from 25 million units targeted earlier. The company sold 8.2 million units of PS5 in the third quarter of 2023, which fell short of the target to hit its guidance of 25 million units, prompting a downward revision.
Due to lower PS5 sales, SONY has lowered revenue guidance for the Game & Network Services (G&NS) segment, which is the largest contributor to its sales. Revenues for the segment are now expected to be down 5% from its previous guidance. For fiscal 2023, it now expects sales of ¥12,300 billion compared with the earlier guidance of ¥12,400 billion.
In the last reported quarter, G&NS sales were up 16% year over year to ¥1444.4 billion (representing 38.5% of total revenues). Segmental sales increased on the back of positive impacts of the forex movement and higher sales of non-first-party titles. Operating income fell to ¥86.1 billion from ¥116.2 billion in the prior-year quarter. The downtick was mainly due to a decrease in sales of first-party titles and an increase in losses from hardware.
At present, Sony carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks worth consideration in the broader technology space are Manhattan Associates (MANH - Free Report) , Watts Water Technologies (WTS - Free Report) and Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) . While Manhattan Associates sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Watts Water and Microsoft carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) each, at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MANH’s 2024 EPS has increased 3.6% in the past 60 days to $3.76. Manhattan Associates’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 27.6%. Shares of MANH have surged 74.1% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Watts Water’s 2024 EPS has improved 10 cents to $8.54 in the past seven days. The long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 7.8%. Shares of WTS have jumped 14.4% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Microsoft’s fiscal 2024 EPS is pegged at $11.63, indicating growth of 18.6% from the year-ago levels. Microsoft’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 8.8%. The long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 16.2%. MSFT has gained 65.5% in the past year.
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SONY Announces to Lay Off 8% of the PlayStation Workforce
Sony Corporation’s (SONY - Free Report) subsidiary Sony Interactive Entertainment (“SIE”) recently announced to lay off 8% (roughly 900 people) of the PlayStation workforce globally, including its own studios. The layoffs at Sony came amid weakening video gaming industry trends.
In the United States, SIE announced that Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, along with Technology, Creative and Support teams were affected by layoffs.
In the United Kingdom, SONY is shutting down its entire London PlayStation Studio while there will be layoffs at its Guerrilla and Firesprite studio. There will also be reductions at SIE’s various other teams in the country.
A few days back, SONY had slashed its PlayStation 5 (PS5) sales target to 21 million units for fiscal 2023 from 25 million units targeted earlier. The company sold 8.2 million units of PS5 in the third quarter of 2023, which fell short of the target to hit its guidance of 25 million units, prompting a downward revision.
Due to lower PS5 sales, SONY has lowered revenue guidance for the Game & Network Services (G&NS) segment, which is the largest contributor to its sales. Revenues for the segment are now expected to be down 5% from its previous guidance. For fiscal 2023, it now expects sales of ¥12,300 billion compared with the earlier guidance of ¥12,400 billion.
Sony Corporation Price and Consensus
Sony Corporation price-consensus-chart | Sony Corporation Quote
In the last reported quarter, G&NS sales were up 16% year over year to ¥1444.4 billion (representing 38.5% of total revenues). Segmental sales increased on the back of positive impacts of the forex movement and higher sales of non-first-party titles. Operating income fell to ¥86.1 billion from ¥116.2 billion in the prior-year quarter. The downtick was mainly due to a decrease in sales of first-party titles and an increase in losses from hardware.
At present, Sony carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks worth consideration in the broader technology space are Manhattan Associates (MANH - Free Report) , Watts Water Technologies (WTS - Free Report) and Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) . While Manhattan Associates sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Watts Water and Microsoft carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) each, at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MANH’s 2024 EPS has increased 3.6% in the past 60 days to $3.76. Manhattan Associates’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 27.6%. Shares of MANH have surged 74.1% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Watts Water’s 2024 EPS has improved 10 cents to $8.54 in the past seven days. The long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 7.8%. Shares of WTS have jumped 14.4% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Microsoft’s fiscal 2024 EPS is pegged at $11.63, indicating growth of 18.6% from the year-ago levels. Microsoft’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 8.8%. The long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 16.2%. MSFT has gained 65.5% in the past year.