- How Many US Consumers Will Shop this Weekend?
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- World's Largest Share Issue Priced at Deep Discount
- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- Playboy to Outsource Most Magazine Operations: Report
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Appeals Court Denies Microsoft's Alcatel Petition
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- Cramer: What Monday’s Housing Number Really Means
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Nielsen Ratings Coming to Video Games
Text Size 
Motorola forecast a higher-than-expected profit for the current quarter, when it will start selling two new Google Android phones in hopes of regaining ground lost to iPhone.
 |
Motorola, Inc. |
After surprising Wall Street with a third-quarter profit, Motorola [MOT
Loading...
()
], whose shares rose 9 percent, forecast fourth-quarter earnings per share range with a midpoint 2 cents above Wall Street estimates.
Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder said Motorola, which has been losing ground in cellphones for more than two years, had improved results in all its units and appeared to be making big strides to turning around the handset unit.
"The company's been losing market share and money (in handsets). It looks like it may lose a little more market share but they're clearly on the path to making money again," he said.
Motorola's Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha, who also heads the company's mobile device business, told analysts on a conference call that the company would ship fewer phones in the current quarter, as it weeds out unprofitable phones in favor of advanced phones.
But the executive said the company's cellphone operating loss would narrow and that the unit would break even for at least one quarter in 2010.
"Our smartphone traction is the critical driver of our financial performance" said Jha who promised more new devices and supply deals with network operators in the first quarter.
Charter Equity's Snyder said Motorola's smartphone sales in the current quarter could hurt rivals such as BlackBerry maker Research In Motion [RIMM
Loading...
()
] and Palm [PALM
Loading...
()
].
The report follows the recent announcement of two phones based on Google's [GOOG
Loading...
()
] Android system, around which Jha reorganized Motorola's entire cellphone business.
Top U.S. operator Verizon Wireless, a unit of Verizon Communications [VZ
Loading...
()
] and Vodafone Group [VOD
Loading...
()
], has already started heavily advertising one of these devices, Droid, as an alternative to iPhone, from Apple [AAPL
Loading...
()
].
 |
Motorola posted a third-quarter profit of $12 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $397 million, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, it would have posted a profit of 2 cents per share, compared with the average analyst expectation for the company to break even, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Motorola also deepened its 2009 cost cutting plan by $100 million to $1.9 billion.
The improving results were driven by an improvement in the mobile devices operating loss to $183 million from $840 million a year earlier and from $253 million in the second quarter.
Revenue fell 27 percent to $5.45 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of $5.54 billion.
Motorola shipped 13.6 million handsets in the quarter, compared with 25.4 million in the same quarter the year before. While this was below analyst expectations, Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton said investors are more interested in Motorola's prospects for the current quarter.
Motorola forecast fourth quarter operating earnings per share in a range of 7 cents to 9 cents. Analysts had expected a profit of 6 cents per share on average.
Motorola also appointed Edward Fitzpatrick chief financial officer. He had been its acting CFO.
Motorola shares rose nearly 9 percent in morning trade on New York Stock Exchange.
- A diet high in fat and sugar might actually be good for your portfolio.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates discuss the economy and other subjects with CNBC's Becky Quick.
- From the AIG&T to the Merrill Lychee, Jane Wells lists this year's fashionable holiday cocktails.
- The show attracts a big TV audience every year, but this year it may take on even more importance.
- …you'll want to be prepared. Tips for getting the most out of the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.
- Congressman Ron Paul explains to Squawk Box why he’s pushing legislation to audit the Federal Reserve.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes