| NJ5 said: We just changed the shipping information from the production basis to the shipping basis starting from this quarter. -- Nobuyuki Oneda |
This effectively lowers their shipment estimates by approximately 2 million units. This says, "hey, the new way we're counting we shipped 3.6 million units in fiscal '07, not 5.5 million units. Don't worry, we don't need to change our forecast, though." Well, when you redefine the number you've shipped as 2 million less than you just announced, that's down-revising your forecast by two million units.
In the past, they were saying they expected to have 16.5 million total units shipped at the end of fiscal '08. With the new shipment counting method they expect to have 14.6 million total units shipped at the end of fiscal '08. This will likely be downward revised again next quarter.
A wise investor will look at Sony and say, "okay, they redefined what 'shipped' meant, and by this new definition they only shipped 3.6 million units last fiscal year but claim they will still ship 11 million this fiscal year. So the total number of units they expect to ship dropped by 1.9 million units."
