Market players gravitated to Nintendo (NTDOY 0.90%) stock at the close of the trading week following the initiation of coverage by a major bank. This helped push the storied video game company's stock more than 3% higher on Friday, easily beating the S&P 500 index's nearly 0.3% decline.
Thumbs-up from Chase
The initiating party was one of the "big four" American banks -- JPMorgan Chase. Before market open, the bank's analyst Junko Yamamura kicked off coverage of Nintendo's Japan-listed stock with an overweight -- buy, in other words -- recommendation at a price target of 11,600 yen ($74.21) per share. That suggests potential upside of 17% over the stock's current level.
The reasoning behind Yamamura's bullish take on Nintendo wasn't immediately apparent. It comes at a time when many eyes are on the company, as it just took the wraps off its long-awaited Switch 2 hybrid video game system. The product is sure to be an improvement over the original -- and highly popular -- Switch, released in early 2017.
Following Nintendo's reveal, several analysts became more bullish about the company's prospects, not least due to anticipated Switch 2 sales.
OTC: NTDOY
Key Data Points
Turning on the Switch
Unless Nintendo completely drops the ball, Switch 2 should be a strong seller. The original Switch has sold over 146 million units, which by any standard constitutes a runaway success; so far, there's little reason to believe the sequel will be any less popular.
I don't think Nintendo will flub this, as the Switch 2 is far too important to its future to fail. It also remains a unique product in a video game world dominated by traditional consoles. I'd be bullish on its potential, too.
