Analyst: Sony needs fundamental changes

Sony Corp's shares closed nearly 6% down in Japanese trading today, after financial group Credit Suisse AG classified the company's stock as "underperforming."

In a reiteration of statements he made earlier this month, Credit Suisse analyst Koya Tabata wrote, "Compared to its peers both at home and overseas, Sony has been slow to react to the current crisis...We believe fundamental changes to its business structure are necessary."

Sony announced a profit recovery plan last week in hopes of saving an annual $1.1 billion in operating expenses. A part of that plan includes closing down the company's last television manufacturing facility in the United States, located at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in Pennsylvania. Sony plans to shutter nearly 10% of its manufacturing plants between now and 2010, and lay off 8,000 full-time employees.

This change apparently came too late for Tabata, who now forecasts a net loss of ¥150 billion for Sony this fiscal year. Tabata's previous projection was a loss of only ¥22.6 billion, or more than 600% less than he currently expects.