Nintendo (NTDOY) Stock Soaring Today After Jefferies Upgrade on Move to Smartphones

Shares of Nintendo (NTDOY) are up after Jefferies upgraded the company's rating to 'buy' from 'hold,' and increasing its price target to $30.45 from $12.70.
By Krysta Michaelides ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Nintendo Co. (NTDOY)  are up 27.06% to $23.15 in morning trading Wednesday after Jefferies upgraded the company's rating to "buy" from "hold," and increased its price target to $30.45 from $12.70, following Nintendo's announcement today that it will open up its game-IP for smart devices. 

"Finally, Nintendo has turned a corner and embraced a huge strategic shift," said Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal.

Nintendo and the online gaming firm, DeNA, agreed to enter into a business and capital alliance for the joint development and operation of gaming applications for smart devices and joint development of a new multi-device membership service for the global market, Jefferies noted.

"Investors have long called on Nintendo, makers of the Wii U and the portable 3DS, to shift its focus to mobile devices after losing customers to both smartphone gaming app makers and console rivals like PlayStation maker Sony and Xbox maker Microsoft," Reuters reports. 

DeNA has agreed to be a non-exclusive behind-the-scenes partner, Goyal said, implying Nintendo is getting an experienced partner for mobile-games, while retaining ownership, planning and development of the games.

Revenue and profit trajectory will depend upon the release timing/nature/pricing of games, the firm said.  

However, the firm believes that the stock price will move well ahead of the earnings trajectory, Goyal further explained in his analysis. 

Jefferies maintained their 2015 fiscal year earnings and revenue estimates of 369 yen per share and 501 billion yen, respectively.  However, they increased their 2016 earnings estimates to 261 yen from 211 yen per share, and their 2016 revenue estimates to 420 billion yen from 351 billion yen. 

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