Sony earnings: second quarter of fiscal 2026

The quarter in brief

In the three months to September, Sony's sales rose 10% to 3,429.4 billion yen, and its operating profit, the profit from running the business before interest and tax, rose 45% to 622.3 billion yen.¹ A weaker yen did much of the work on sales: it averaged 159.3 to the dollar against 147.4 a year earlier, and without currency effects sales grew only about 4%.¹ The biggest swing came from Pictures, Sony's film and television arm, where Spider-Man: Brand New Day lifted operating profit from 13.9 to 92.6 billion yen.¹ Games earned far more too, from 120.4 to 220.1 billion yen, though about half of that rise is the absence of two one-off charges that held last year down.¹ Image sensors, the chips that capture pictures in phone cameras, and other hardware sold fewer units. Sony raised its forecasts for the full year.¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts' average forecast was a profit of $0.38 per US-listed share for the quarter.² Sony reports its own results in yen, and put its earnings at 76.49 yen per share.¹

What the company expects

Sony now expects full-year operating profit of 1,870 billion yen, up from the 1,720 billion yen it expected three months ago, and sales of 13,000 billion yen, up from 12,500 billion.¹³ That would leave 14.4 yen of operating profit from every 100 yen of sales, against the 13.8 it expected before. It also now expects profit after tax of 1,330 billion yen, up from 1,210 billion, and cash from its operations of 1,600 billion yen, up from 1,500 billion.¹³

Games and pictures lead the raise. In games and network services it now expects sales of 4,830 billion yen, up from 4,540 billion, and operating profit of 700 billion yen, up from 660 billion.¹ The main reason is higher sales of games made by other publishers on PlayStation, helped by lower costs and more network services; a delayed release date for one of Sony's own games pulls the other way.¹ In pictures it now expects 200 billion yen of operating profit, up from 150 billion, a raise that rests on one film's run in cinemas.¹

It also raised its music forecast by 110 billion yen of sales and 25 billion yen of operating profit, and lifted imaging and sensing to 450 billion yen of operating profit from 420 billion.¹ That figure now counts the Kumamoto earthquake as a cost, which Sony had left out three months ago because it could not estimate it; lower costs and the exchange rate more than offset it.¹³

Some things did not move: the electronics forecast of 2,250 billion yen of sales and 150 billion yen of operating profit, the dividend of 35 yen a share in two payments of 17.5 yen, and the assumption of about 153 yen to the dollar and 175 to the euro for the rest of the year.¹ Getting there needs the film and outside publishers' games to keep selling.

The strong points

Operating profit rose 45% to 622.3 billion yen while sales rose 10%, so each yen of sales earned noticeably more than a year ago: 18.1 yen of operating profit from every 100 yen of sales, up from 13.8.¹ For a group spanning games, music, films, sensors and electronics, that means the parts earning the most per yen grew fastest.

Pictures was the quarter's biggest swing. On the back of Spider-Man: Brand New Day its sales rose from 346.0 to 513.7 billion yen and its operating profit jumped from 13.9 to 92.6 billion yen.¹ That one segment supplied 78.7 billion yen of the 193.4 billion yen rise in group operating profit.¹ Its earnings before charges for the wearing-out of assets, a measure closer to the cash a business brings in, rose from 27.2 to 105.9 billion yen.¹

Earnings per share, net income divided by the number of shares, rose to 76.49 yen from 51.71 yen a year ago, and net income, the profit after everything, rose to 449.6 billion yen from 311.4 billion.¹ The comparison is like for like: Sony has since split off its financial services business, and the year-ago figures cover only the businesses it still owns.¹

The weak points

Most of the 10% sales growth came from a weaker yen; without currency effects sales grew only about 4%.¹ When the yen weakens, sales made in dollars and other currencies are worth more yen once counted at home, without a single extra console or song being sold, and that can unwind just as easily. Currency also cut the other way lower down: net financial income and expenses were 12.0 billion yen worse, partly on foreign exchange losses.¹

Image sensor sales fell 6%, from 614.6 to 577.6 billion yen, as fewer sensors were sold for mobile products.¹ Operating profit in the business rose 16.4 billion yen to 154.6 billion, but the weaker yen alone added 25.9 billion yen, more than the entire gain, so without it profit here would have fallen.¹ Sensors are Sony's second-largest profit earner after games, and the drop in volumes is the part currency cannot cover.

In electronics such as cameras, sales slipped 1%, or 7.9 billion yen, even though currency moves added 26.6 billion yen.¹ Sony puts the decline down to fewer units sold across several businesses, cameras among them.¹ Games consoles told a similar story, with hardware sales down on lower unit sales.¹

What to watch

The first signal is the yen. Sony's forecast assumes about 153 yen to the dollar for the rest of the year, while it averaged 159.3 this quarter.¹ The exchange rate moves every day, long before results appear: a yen strengthening toward that assumption would strip away part of the boost that flattered sales and sensor profits, while one that stays weak would keep adding to them.

The second is what smartphone makers plan to build. Their orders for new handsets, and the inventory of unsold phones and parts they are holding, decide how many image sensors Sony ships. Recovering orders would suggest this quarter's drop in sensor volumes is passing; production cuts or piles of unsold parts would suggest it is lasting.

The third is the two things the raised forecasts rest on: Spider-Man: Brand New Day's takings at cinemas, which show week by week whether the film keeps earning, and the sales of games from other publishers on PlayStation. Sony lifted its pictures and games forecasts on exactly those; if either fades, the raise loses its footing well before the next results offer a check.

Our verdict on the quarter

In all, a very strong report. Sony's operating profit grew more than four times as fast as its sales, and it raised its full-year forecasts for sales, profit and cash.¹ The caveats concern where the lift came from: a weaker yen supplied much of the sales growth and all of the sensor profit gain, last year's one-off games charges flatter the comparison, and a single hit film accounts for a large slice of the profit rise. Underneath, sensors, consoles and cameras sold fewer units. The quarter was strong; how much of it is built to last is the open question.

Notes

1. Sony's results release, 5 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 5 November 2026. ↩
3. Sony's previous results release, 31 July 2026: sec.gov. ↩