What happened in the previous thread?

Anyway, it's amazing how Kaz Hirai turned Sony around. Kudos to Sony.

Great work Sony! Hope they continue this success.

Pretty much this.

Been a great ride. Really the turn around started with Sir Howard Stringer. Kaz has done an excellent job continuing the One Sony direcion, and fat cutting that started under Stringer.

I hope he continues to build around the PlayStation brand, and unify all of their electronics under the One Sony approach. The ultimate goal should be to have all of their products running on a version of the PlayStation OS and powered by the PlayStation Store.

I bought in at $24 a share, and it has been nice seeing prices rise over the last 2+ years. PlayStation Vue, PlayStation VR, and massive Revenue/Profits from the PlayStation Netwotk have put them in an very strong position. At this point, it is all about expanding the PS4 and PSVR userbase. Keep PlayStation Hardware current, keep expanding networked services, and most importantly expanded form factors of PlayStation hardware to reach new markets, and build deeper relations with current customers.

All the peices are in place, now they just need to not mess up.

Here is the stock price if anyone is interested.

https://www.google.com/#q=Sony+stock+price

For whatever reason, the stock tends to go up in the summer and fall in the winter. It's been steadily increasing for the last few years and Sony had decent earnings in 2015 and 2016. From what I'm reading, gaming is driving the stock, and I'd agree. However, with that means the company is more volatile as the console market is all over the place. Even Sony rode high from PS2, flopped with PS3 (which almost took down the company) and is doing well with PS4.

Sony is hardly competitive in any other industry its in, so gaming is what will drive the stock. We'll have to come back in a year or two and see how the company does from there.

I ,wouldn't go so far to say that it's hardly competitive in any other industry . camera lense manufacture and finance  are  two sectors doing well and that's just with out looking to far into it.

The console market is not all over the place - they just messed up with the PS3. Not making extraordinary decisions returned things to normal with the PS4.

Also, you're forgeting that their life insurance has been their biggest division for years now. Their music and TV division are very strong too. 

Look at Nintendo. They struggled with the Gamecube, succeeded with the Wii and flopped with the Wii U. Microsoft was the same way with the 360 being a modest hit and then faltering. And look at the graveyard of companies that didn't make it in this industry (Atari, Sega, Hudson). Videogames are volatile. Who is to say that Sony won't trip up again with the PS5? The only company that has been consistently successful is Nintendo in the handheld business and even the sales figures are volatile.

You mentioned life insurance, but Sony's bread and butter was consumer electronics, not life insurance. Sony's TVs are beaten by Samsung and LG, Sony lost its music business from the iPhone and it's phones line is nothing meaningful. Even Sony's movie business is on the rocks. Cameras are doing well, but Sony's business is dependent on demand from phone manufacturers, and they could find another alternative if need be. Video Games is the only industry they are really competitive in. It makes up about 19 percent of sales as of Q2 2016 (haven't seen more updated number). However, it's the most volatile industry they are in as well. PS4 is doing well know, but Sony will eventually have to release the PS5. And it will be doing it as PC gaming increases and as Nintendo Switch hits its stride.

Sony's TVs are beaten by LG and Samsung because the latter have cheap, bottom-of-the-line TVs that Sony does not have. That's why South Korean and Chinese TV manufacturers are doing so well - they can go cheap.

Their music business is still going strong as they are in the business of producing music, which apple doesn't do. The music business made $670M in profit last year.

Sony's money come mostly from electronics so it is still their bread and butter, unlike what you are trying to imply. They've had that life insurance business since 1979.

Their movie business, as much as they make a lot of bad movies, will be profitable. Last year was an exception but this year they have had several hits to counter the flops.

I would actually advice you to look at Sony's financials.

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/fr/16q4_sonyspeech.pdf  (info is on pg 3)

You say how great Sony's music business is doing but Sony's game division is making 1 trillion more than music. Music is one of Sony's weakest sectors. Electronics only made about 66% of what their game sector made. Their finance sector is about the same as the electronic sector. Net Income before taxes was about 3 percent of total sales. If game revenue sees a decent drop, it could throw Sony back in the red. Sony is entirely dependent on their video game sector. It is by far the biggest money maker for the company.