Net profit growth

Net profit at Japanese gaming console and video game maker Nintendo Co (T:7974). for the third quarter of fiscal 2020-2021, up 1.9 times to 375.67 billion yen ($3.4 billion) for the nine months ended December 31, compared with 196.39 billion yen for the same period in 2019, the company said in a press release.

It's worth noting that earnings exceeded analysts expectations thanks to strong growth in Switch console sales.

The Wall Street Journal calculated Nintendo's third-quarter net profit at 163.54 billion yen, compared to the 135.57 billion yen expected by analysts polled by FactSet.

The company's nine-month operating profit rose 98.2% year on year, or 2x, to 521.11 billion yen. Revenue rose to 1.404 trillion yen from 1.022 trillion yen a year earlier.

Nintendo has raised its full-year forecast. The company now expects its revenue for the fiscal year ending March 31 to rise 22% to 1.6 trillion yen. Previously, Nintendo had expected an increase of 7%.

According to the updated forecast, the company's net profit will increase by 55%, to 400 billion yen, rather than the 16% increase previously forecast.

Nintendo expects sales of Switch, the company's flagship product, to reach 26.5 million units for the fiscal year compared to the 24 million previously expected. Nintendo has already sold 24.1 million consoles in the three quarters of the current fiscal year. Last fiscal year, 17.7 million Switch consoles were sold, with 12.5 million sold in the first half of the current fiscal year.

In addition, Nintendo sold 19.4 million copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the first nine months.

The company may increase its dividend for the current fiscal year to 1,880 yen per share, rather than the 1,260 yen per share previously estimated.

Nintendo shares gained 3.4 per cent in trading on Monday. The company's capitalisation jumped 56.4 per cent to 7.22 trillion yen over the past year.