Image source: Nintendo.
What: Shares of Nintendo (NTDOY +0.85%) fell as much as 14.4% on Wednesday following the release of disappointing first-quarter results. The dip comes on the heels of another strict haircut from last Friday, when the video gaming veteran reminded investors that the Pokemon Go megahit is unlikely to do much good for Nintendo's financial results.
So what: Nintendo's first-quarter sales came in at $588 million, a 31% year-over-year drop in the underlying Yen reports. The year-ago period's earnings of $0.65 per share plunged to a net loss of $1.93 per share.
Sales of Wii U systems fell 53% year over year, while software sales for the flagship platform increased by 3%.
As a reminder, Nintendo does not make or sell the Pokemon Go app. The Pokemon Company, which is a joint venture between Nintendo and two other Japanese companies, receives license fees from Pokemon Go's in-game purchases, but the majority of those fees belong to former Google subsidiary Niantic Labs. Moreover, the mobile monster-hunting game was released well after the close of the first quarter's books and would not have made any difference to this report either way.
Now what: When Pokemon Go went viral, Nintendo's share prices more than doubled in less than three weeks. This report and the reminder of Pokemon Go's trivial bottom-line value for Nintendo itself have corrected that surge, leaving shares at a 13% 52-week gain.
The company is putting the finishing touches on its next-generation video game console, code named Nintendo NX. There isn't much reliable information about this platform yet, but Nintendo's future rides on a strong launch. Expect the company to dig deep in its rich character vaults to produce top-notch launch titles, including fresh games from the Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong franchises.
