Exclusive games give Sony an edge

Article Excerpt

SONY GROUP CORP. ADRs $115 is a hold. The Japanese conglomerate (New York symbol SONY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $149.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.1; Dividend yield: 0.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.sony.net) recently paid an undisclosed sum for U.K.-based video game developer Firesprite Ltd. This firm recently adapted its virtual reality game, The Persistence, to run on Sony’s PlayStation 5 console. Sony now has 15 developers in its video game unit. Exclusive games from these businesses gives the PlayStation an advantage over Microsoft’s Xbox system. The stock has jumped 48% in the past year, as COVID-19 lockdowns spurred strong consumer demand for home entertainment products, particularly video games. However, ongoing shortages of chips and other components could hurt this unit’s earnings growth. Sony is a hold. hold…