QUESTION: <$>Will my Sony Corp. stock ever do any better? I can’t believe how this brand that used to be so great has lost direction. — K.R., via the Internet

REPLY: Introduction of Trinitron television sets and Walkman portable music players vaulted this Japanese consumer-electronics brand to the forefront years ago, but that seems a distant past.It is good news for shoppers this holiday season, but not for Sony, that sales of liquid-crystal-display televisions will be competitive and price driven. Rivals Panasonic and Samsung are ready for a fight.

That’s not all Sony has to worry about.

Earnings declined 94 percent in its July-to-September quarter, due in part to the embarrassing battery recall involving most major computer makers that cost it about $430 million in the quarter. Dell and Apple Computer initially discovered that the Sony-made power packs could overheat.

Shares of Sony (SNE) are up two percent this year, following gains of 5 percent last year and 12 percent in 2004. Due to the battery problems and the likelihood that financial performance will continue to weaken, Fitch Ratings downgraded Sony’s long-term debt to triple-B-plus from single-A-minus.

In video games, Sony must contend with the popularity of Nintendo’s DS handheld unit and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360.

Profits in Sony’s electronics business were down 71 percent in its recent quarter as it readied the November launch of its PlayStation 3 console that features the high-definition video of Blu-ray DVD technology. It is designed to become the heart of its home-video system.

A manufacturing delay postponed European release until spring and cut shipments to the U.S. and Japan. In Japan, the firm reduced PlayStation 3’s price tag 20 percent before launch.

Finally, the head of Sony’s home-entertainment division was sent packing.

British-born Howard Stringer, the first foreigner to head Sony, expects lower-than-expected profitability for the fiscal year ending March 2007.

Because Sony still has a powerful brand, marketing might and potential, consensus rating of its stock by the Wall Street analysts who track it is a “hold”, according to Thomson Financial. That consists of two “buys”, two “holds” and one “strong sell”.

Earnings are expected to increase 16 percent this year and 79 percent in 2007, according to Thomson Financial. The five-year annualized growth rate is forecast as 13 percent.

This fall the firm launched Sony Connect, an electronic bookstore on the Internet, and is selling a device that displays e-books bought from the store. It missed its spring launch because of technical problems.