Panasonic shares soar nearly 17pc on earnings

TOKYO (AFP) – Panasonic shares soared nearly 17 per cent on Monday as investors reacted to the Japanese electronics giant’s latest earnings, while rivals Sony and Sharp also spiked on upbeat sentiment.

Panasonic jumped 16.89 per cent to 692 yen in Tokyo morning trade, following the company’s announcement after the close of Friday’s session that it posted an operating profit of 121.95 billion yen ($1.32 billion) in the nine months to December, and a 61.4 billion yen net profit in the last three months of 2012.

Show attendees look over television sets at the Panasonic booth during the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. REUTERS

That marked a huge reversal from a net loss of 197.6 billion yen a year earlier, with Panasonic citing aggressive cost-cutting as part of a massive corporate overhaul aimed at stemming record losses.

“The recent rise in the share price reflects the market starting to factor in post-restructuring profit levels,” said Credit Suisse analyst Shunsuke Tsuchiya.

However, Panasonic also said it lost about $6.77 billion in the nine months to December and was on track to lose a whopping $8.3 billion over its fiscal year to March, after posting a record loss in the previous year.

Sony, which reports earnings this week, jumped 9.44 per cent to 1,483 yen.