Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Canon Inc., the world's biggest maker of digital cameras, surged to a record after the company said it may sell more of the devices in 2008 than it has forecast.

The stock jumped 5.1 percent to 6,570 yen as of 1:23 p.m. in Tokyo, after gaining to as much as 6,590 yen. The shares of gained 43 percent this year, making the company Japan's second- biggest manufacturer by market value after Toyota Motor Corp.

Canon today said it may ship more than its targeted 23 million digital cameras in 2008, responding to a Nihon Keizai newspaper report that it expects to ship 26 million. The company shipped 16.9 million digital cameras in 2005, a 21 percent increase from 14 million in the previous year and compared with its outlook for 20 million units in 2006.

``We can't deny the possibility of shipping more than our forecast 23 million units in 2008,'' said Hiroshi Yoshinaga, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Canon. He said the company hasn't ``officially'' changed its outlook for camera sales in the period.

Canon had a 17 percent share in the global market for digital cameras in 2005, followed by Sony Corp.'s 15 percent and Eastman Kodak Co. with 14 percent, market researcher IDC estimates. Digital camera sales by Japanese makers were worth 878.2 billion yen so far this year, a 16 percent increase from the period a year earlier, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association.

To contact the reporter on this story: Junko Hayashi in Tokyo at juhayashi@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 5, 2006 00:37 EDT