Nintendo stock downgraded

The Wii is still outselling the PlayStation 3 4-to-1 in Japan, despite stock shortages–but has the Wii reached the market saturation point? Analyst Hiroshi Kamide from KBC Securities Japan seems to think so, as the company downgraded Nintendo stock from “buy” to “hold” today, reports Bloomberg.

KBC also reduced its 12-month share price estimate by almost a third to ¥57,500 ($588), and its outlook for net income next fiscal year by 8 percent to ¥391.6 billion ($4 billion). Kamide is concerned that demand for Nintendo’s hardware–the DS handheld and the Wii console–will slow down, and that sales in the US and Europe have reached their peak. KBC downsized its sales predictions, with DS handheld shipments down 6 percent and Wii software sales down 5 percent from their previous forecasts.

The analyst said that he believed the company had seen “amazing growth,” but from now on “it is reasonable to expect a tougher trading environment.”

Nintendo stock has dropped 22 percent so far this year, after seeing phenomenal growth in both 2006 and 2007. The company’s shares have also been battered by the tumbling US dollar, which is near a 13-year-low against the Japanese currency after falling below 100 yen earlier in the week.

Nonetheless, shares in Nintendo climbed five percent to ¥52,100 ($530) on the Osaka stock exchange yesterday.