Why Nintendo Stock Is Climbing Today

Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) stock is gaining in Thursday's trading as investors and analysts are warming back up to the prospects for the company's recently unveiled Switch 2 console. The Japanese video gaming giant's share price was up 1.6% as of 12:10 p.m. ET, and had been up as much as 2.9% earlier in the session.

Nintendo debuted its next-generation Switch platform in a short trailer video released last week. While the stock gained ground immediately following the reveal, subsequent commentary was more bearish, and prompted a pullback. However, bullish sentiment is taking hold again.

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Measuring the Switch 2 against its predecessor

Nintendo showed the world its Switch 2 platform for the first time last week and also debuted a new title in its hugely popular Mario Kart series. The new platform will go on sale later this year, and builds on the successful concept of its predecessor with upgraded graphics performance and features.

Some analysts initially appeared to be disappointed that the company didn't share more details about the new gaming system, and unhappy that it offers an incremental improvement on the original Switch as opposed to a more revolutionary leap forward.

But in a recently published note, Tokyo Securities raised its rating on Nintendo stock from buy to strong buy. It also increased its first-year sales forecast for the Switch 2 from 14 million units to 16 million units. The original Switch has sold more than 146 million units worldwide, making it a massive success for Nintendo.

What comes next for Nintendo?

Nintendo will share more details about the Switch 2 on April 2. With the platform scheduled to release later this year, there's a good chance that the company will provide a look at the system's lineup for its launch window and offer some pricing information.

Given that the original Switch has been one of the most successful gaming systems ever, it wouldn't be shocking if the Switch 2 isn't able to reach similar heights. On the other hand, the potential for Nintendo stock to deliver strong long-term returns isn't contingent on this new hardware generation matching the prior one's sales. If the Switch 2 sells 100 million units in its lifecycle, that would still make it a big success for Nintendo -- and the company's great lineup of franchises and its strong software output could also help push the stock higher over the long term.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Nintendo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.