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SONY Establishes Mobility Business Joint Venture With Honda

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SONY Group Corporation (SONY - Free Report) recently announced that it has established its earlier announced joint venture with Honda Motor Co., Ltd — Sony Honda Mobility Inc. Both the companies had signed a joint venture agreement to establish Sony Honda Mobility to build high-value-added electric vehicles (EVs) in June 2022.

Through Sony Honda Mobility, SONY is looking to deliver EVs to North America beginning in spring 2026. The cars will then be delivered in Japan in the second half of 2026. The mobility venture will be taking pre-orders for first product in the first half of 2025, with sales to be executed before the end of 2025.

The electric vehicles’ production under the Sony Honda Mobility venture would be carried out at Honda’s North America factory.

Sony will be integrating its expertise in the development and application of network and entertainment, imaging, sensing, telecommunication technologies together with Honda’s environmental and safety technologies as well as mobility development and vehicle body manufacturing capabilities to create advanced EVs and mobility services.

SONY is looking to foray into the lucrative EV space through the joint venture. Per a Precedence Research Report, the global EV market is expected to witness a CAGR of 23.1% between 2022 and 2030 and reach $1103.17 billion. The demand for EVs is likely to be driven by efforts undertaken by the various governments, which include subsidies, and grants, tax rebates, as well as other aids like car registration along with access to the carpool lane, added the research firm. However, a lack of charging infrastructure could pose a major impediment to market growth.

Also, SONY needs to watch out for tough competition in the space from the likes of Tesla (TSLA - Free Report) as well as most of the global car makers like Ford and General Motors, which have accelerated their EV efforts to gain a larger share of the market.

Tesla posted the sixth straight earnings beat in the last reported quarter. The company is riding high on the soaring popularity of its Models 3 and Y, which form a major chunk of its total deliveries. High volumes are also aiding Tesla in achieving production efficiencies, thereby strengthening gross margins.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

At present, SONY carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader consumer discretionary sector are Oxford Industries (OXM - Free Report) and Hyatt Hotels (H - Free Report) . Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Oxford Industries’ fiscal 2023 earnings is pegged at $10.48 per share, rising 6.2% in the past 60 days.

Oxford Industries’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, the average being 91.1%. Shares of OXM have lost 2.6% of their value in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Hyatt Hotels’ 2022 earnings is pegged at 68 cents per share, up 79% in the past 60 days.

Hyatt Hotels’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of last four quarters, the average being 799%. Shares of Hyatt Hotels have lost 3.5% of their value in the past year

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