Nintendo Shares Rise Sharply After Profit Beat

By Kosaku Narioka

Nintendo shares rose sharply after it reported better-than-expected profits, driven by stronger software sales and the success of a new "Super Mario" movie.

Shares in Tokyo were recently 4.8% higher at 8,011 yen, equivalent to $50.56, after rising as much as 5.1% earlier Friday.

The Japanese videogame maker said after the market closed Thursday that net profit climbed 54% from a year earlier to Y147.42 billion for the three months ended June. That exceeded the estimate of Y74.40 billion from a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.

Software sales increased, driven partly by social-simulation game hits such as "Pokemon Pokopia" and "Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream" while sales of Switch 2 consoles declined from the same period a year earlier, when the company began selling the new console.

Meanwhile, "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," its second animated film based on the popular videogame series, proved a big success, grossing more than $1 billion since its global release in April. That helped intellectual property-related income more than doubled from a year earlier.

Quarterly earnings were also helped by a refund of U.S. tariffs.

Strong quarterly results are a sign that Nintendo's strategy is working. The company has been trying to grow earnings steadily irrespective of the performance of hardware sales and diversify its revenue streams beyond videogames.

Nomura analyst Naruhito Miki said even after excluding the impact of tariff refunds, profits were strong thanks mainly to better-than-expected software sales, particularly of new titles.

For the fiscal year ending March 2027, Nintendo continues to expect revenue to fall 11% to Y2.050 trillion and net profit to drop 27% to Y310.00 billion.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 06, 2026 23:04 ET (03:04 GMT)