Sony shares are at a 19-year high. Analysts are bullish on PlayStation 5, say stock could rally 20% - CNBC

On average, analysts polled by Refinitiv expect Sony shares to hit 9,538.95 yen ($90.35) in the next 12 months, around 9.5% upside from Wednesday's opening price, buoyed by the company's strong gaming business and recovery in its image sensor division. .

In fact, in Sony's fiscal first quarter that just ended, the company's game and network services unit accounted for about 54% of total operating profit.

Sony forecast a modest year-on-year rise of 0.6% in the gaming division's operating profit at 240 billion yen for its fiscal year that concludes at end March 2021.

Revenue for the gaming business is forecast to jump over 26% year-on-year to 2.5 trillion yen, according to the company. .

With people staying home more in the second quarter of the year due to coronavirus-related shutdowns around the world, Sony sold 91 million software units — or games.

Meanwhile, Sony's subscription service called PlayStation Plus, saw subscriber numbers reach 44.9 million in the April to June quarter, higher than 36.2 million in the same period last year.

"I expect 6 million units of that to be sold, basically snapped up … out the opening gate," he said.

Amit Garg, a senior analyst of Japan equities at CLSA, told CNBC he expects Sony to sell 6.7 million units of the console in the current fiscal year and said the company's own profit forecast for the gaming unit will likely be beaten, given the strength in the quarter just gone.  .

Toto forecasts Sony selling 15 million to 20 million units in the PlayStation 5's first year of sales. .

And Sony forecast that this business will see profit decline over 44% for the fiscal year. .