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Sales forecasts exceeded for the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS

According to Bloomberg, Nintendo has raised its full-year profit forecast by 26 percent resulting in a surge in their share price. Better than expected sales of the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS console is the primary contributing factor.

As of August 29th Nintendo shares gained 8.4 percent to close at 51,800 yen (481 USD) on the Osaka Stock Exchange, the most since November 14. Net income climbed 59 percent to 410 billion yen ($3.8 billion USD) in the year ending March 31. The forecast exceeded the 382.6 billion yen (3.5 billion USD) median of 23 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The stock has tripled since Satoru Iwata, replaced Hiroshi Yamauchi as president in 2002. Nintendo is now valued at $67 billion USD, 72 percent more than Sony’s market capitalization, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Wii overtook Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 in June as the leading game player in U.S. homes among the current generation of consoles according to research company NPD Group Inc. Sales of Nintendo’s machine have surpassed the Xbox 360 and PS3 every month but one since it went on sale, according to NPD.

Sales of the Nintendo Wii console are expected to rise 42 percent this year and projections of a drop in Nintendo DS sales have been reversed. Nintendo said that sales of the Nintendo Wii will climb to 26.5 million players this year, exceeding the July forecast for 25 million. Sales of software for the console will also increase 56 percent to 186 million units. Nintendo also said it will most likely sell 30.5 million Nintendo DS players, 8.9 percent higher than its July estimate of 28 million. Sales of software titles are estimated to climb 6.1 percent to 197 million units.

In comparison Sony forecasts it will sell 10 million PlayStation 3 consoles and 15 million PlayStation Portable devices in the year ending March 31.