http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a419izcSIyR0&refer=japan
Nintendo Shares Rise on Higher Forecast Expectations (Update1)
By Pavel Alpeyev and Hiroshi Suzuki
Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co., the best performer among Japan's biggest stocks, rose the most in three months on the Osaka Securities Exchange on expectations the maker of the Wii game console may raise its full-year profit forecast tomorrow.
Nintendo's stock gained 7.2 percent to 68,400 yen at the 11 a.m. break, headed for the biggest gain since July 26. Shares of Kyoto-based Nintendo, the world's largest maker of handheld video-game players, more than doubled this year, the biggest gainer on Japan's Topix 100 Index.
The Wii outsold Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 in the U.S. in the first eight months of the year, luring users with a motion-sensitive controller that replicates their movements on screen. Sales of the Wii led Nintendo in July to raise its annual earnings forecast to a record 245 billion yen ($2.1 billion).
``An upward revision of full-year earnings targets is likely,'' Hiroshi Kamide, a Tokyo-based analyst at KBC Securities Japan with a ``buy'' rating on the company, said by telephone today. ``It's natural that expectations are high ahead of the year-end shopping season.''
Net income in the year ending March 31 may beat the company's forecast by 12 percent, reaching 273.4 billion yen, according to the average of 19 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales may exceed the game maker's forecast by 5.8 percent, according to the survey.
Nintendo, which reports earnings tomorrow, is looking to build on the success of the console's controller to keep its lead against the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The company this month said it will sell the ``Wii Fit'' game featuring an exercise board that senses a user's movements from Dec. 1 in Japan.
