Sony: No Sign of a Turnaround

Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) managed to maintain its habit of posting quarterly losses. In its most recent fiscal quarter, the large Japanese consumer electronics company lost $194 million.

The reasons for the losses are about the same as they have been for several years. Sony has fallen well behind Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Samsung in the consumer electronics field. It does not have a popular operating system of its own, as Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has in Android. So it has been left on the margins of the consumer electronics and handset worlds.

Sony's other main divisions make cameras, TVs and product movies. The prices for digital cameras and TVs are so low that manufacturers in Korean and China have used labor costs to gain an advantage. Movie studio profits change wildly from quarter to quarter based on the success or failure of blockbuster films.

New CEO Kazuo Hirai promised improvement after a number of lean years under former chief Sir Howard Stringer. Instead, Sony has little to offer but more of the same.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Earnings Tagged: AAPL, GOOG, SNE