Market players were eager to push the start button on Nintendo (NTDOY 5.13%) stock as the trading week drew to a close. Shares of the storied Japanese video game company finished Friday up by more than 5% thanks in no small part to an analyst's price-target increase. That rise was in contrast to the S&P 500's dip of 0.4%.
A bull gets more bullish
Before market open that day, JPMorgan Chase's Junko Yamamura lifted her fair value assessment on Nintendo's Japan-listed stock to 15,300 yen ($106.52) per share, up from her previous level of 13,400 yen ($93.29). In doing so, she maintained her overweight (buy, in other words) recommendation on the video game maker.
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The reasoning behind Yamamura's move wasn't immediately clear. However, it's apparent she's become more bullish over the past few months. In January, she initiated coverage of the stock, at that point flagging it as a buy at only 11,600 yen ($0.76 per share).
The company has certainly been an increasingly hot topic recently among the gaming community. This was entirely expected, as it is now less than two weeks away from the official launch of its long-awaited Switch 2 console. So far, the pre-launch buzz about the product has been generally positive and hopeful, a factor that's likely supporting the stock.
A rising trend
Another plus for the stock is that Yamamura's move isn't unique or isolated; earlier in the week, two of her peers also upped their price targets for Nintendo.
Benchmark's Mike Hickey now feels the shares are worth 13,000 yen ($90.50) apiece, up from his preceding 11,800 yen ($82.15), and they're still a buy. And even though CLSA's Jay Defibaugh continued to rate the stock a sell, he enacted a raise nevertheless; to him it's now worth 8,600 yen ($59.87) from 7,800 yen ($54.30).
