Sony Corp. share price down, market capitalization tumbles after downbeat full-year profit forecast

Sony Corp. lost ¥192.4 billion ($1.8 billion) of its market value after the company projected yesterday a larger full-year net loss than initially expected. In addition, Sony said that it wont pay dividend this year for the first time since its listing in 1958.

Sony shares experienced their largest drop since November 2013 following yesterdays official statement, according to which the Japanese consumer-electronics manufacturer expects a net loss estimated to ¥230 billion for the current fiscal year due to a write-down on its smartphone businesss value.

As a result, the companys share price fell as much as 13% to a session low of ¥1 844, before eventually closing more than 8% lower.

“The company had mentioned the possibility of impairment losses when it announced its April-June results, but its decision to book the losses at the top of the expected range is somewhat negative,” said Yu Okazaki, an analyst at Nomura Securities, for the Wall Street Journal. JPMorgan analysts stressed that not paying dividends, which are a long-term commitment, may be highlighting worse-than-anticipated financial conditions.

Still, in the light of recent events, Sony will at least be able to focus on the remaining stronghold of its shrinking electronics business – the PlayStation. The gaming business seems like the only hope for Sony, which announced in August that it had managed to sell more than 10 million units of its latest PlayStation 4 game console since it was rolled out in November 2013. That compares with 5 million Xbox One consoles which Microsoft managed to sell through April.

Sony Corp. declined by 8.64% in Tokyo on Thursday to close at ¥1 940 per share, marking a one-year change of -9.05%. The company is valued at ¥2.27 trillion. According to the Financial Times, the 17 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Sony Corp. have a median target of ¥2 000, with a high estimate of ¥3 000 and a low estimate of ¥1 400. The median estimate represents a -5.82% decrease from the previous close of ¥2 123.5.