Why Nintendo Stock Was Climbing Today

Market players were eager to push the start button on Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) stock as the trading week drew to a close. Shares of the storied Japanese video game company finished Friday up by more than 5% thanks in no small part to an analyst's price-target increase. That rise was in contrast to the S&P 500's dip of 0.4%.

A bull gets more bullish

Before market open that day, JPMorgan Chase's Junko Yamamura lifted her fair value assessment on Nintendo's Japan-listed stock to 15,300 yen ($106.52) per share, up from her previous level of 13,400 yen ($93.29). In doing so, she maintained her overweight (buy, in other words) recommendation on the video game maker.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Image source: Getty Images.

The reasoning behind Yamamura's move wasn't immediately clear. However, it's apparent she's become more bullish over the past few months. In January, she initiated coverage of the stock, at that point flagging it as a buy at only 11,600 yen ($0.76 per share).

The company has certainly been an increasingly hot topic recently among the gaming community. This was entirely expected, as it is now less than two weeks away from the official launch of its long-awaited Switch 2 console. So far, the pre-launch buzz about the product has been generally positive and hopeful, a factor that's likely supporting the stock.

A rising trend

Another plus for the stock is that Yamamura's move isn't unique or isolated; earlier in the week, two of her peers also upped their price targets for Nintendo.

Benchmark's Mike Hickey now feels the shares are worth 13,000 yen ($90.50) apiece, up from his preceding 11,800 yen ($82.15), and they're still a buy. And even though CLSA's Jay Defibaugh continued to rate the stock a sell, he enacted a raise nevertheless; to him it's now worth 8,600 yen ($59.87) from 7,800 yen ($54.30).

Should you invest $1,000 in Nintendo right now?

Before you buy stock in Nintendo, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nintendo wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $640,662!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $814,127!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 963% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 168% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025

JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool recommends Nintendo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.