TOKYO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Canon Inc. (7751.T: Quote, NEWS, Research) is set to post an annual net profit of 445 billion yen ($3.78 billion), exceeding the company's estimate by 5 billion yen and beating last year's figure by 16 percent, business daily Nihon Keizai reported on Thursday.
It would also beat a consensus estimate of 439.1 billion yen from 18 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
Strong demand for colour multi-function copiers, which also help sales of ink and paper, probably raised sales to 4.15 trillion yen for the year to December, 20 billion yen more than the company's forecast, the report said. That compares with 3.75 trillion yen in 2005.
Separately, Merrill Lynch raised its rating on shares in Canon, the world's biggest maker of copiers and digital cameras, to "buy" from "neutral" in a Sept. 13 report, saying recent earnings results had surpassed expectations.
"Laser printers and digital still camera businesses are doing better than anticipated, offsetting concerns over lower copier prices," said Merrill Lynch analyst Ryohei Takahashi.
Canon supplies laser printers to Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest printer maker.
Shares of Canon rose 2.1 percent to 5,960 yen during morning trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, outperforming a 1.31 percent gain by the Nikkei average <.N225>.
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