150,000 Q's Sold in June, Motorola earnings up

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060719/bs_nm/telecoms_motorola_earns_dc_3
Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news), the No. 2 cellphone maker, on Wednesday posted second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations due to strong demand for its phones, including the Razr.

The company also forecast higher than expected revenue for the third quarter, sending its shares up 5.5 percent in after-hours trading.

Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said net income rose to $1.38 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $933 million, or 37 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 29 percent to $10.88 billion from $8.41 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 29 cents a share on revenue of $10.12 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. The analyst forecast was comparable to Motorola's 31 cents reported earnings per share from continuing operations, excluding special gains, according to Reuters Estimates.

"What ended up happening is they significantly beat even our best hopes," said Jefferies analyst Bill Choi.

Choi said Motorola's shipment of 51.9 million handsets in the quarter was well above his 48.6 million estimate and that revenue in each of the company's operating segments was well above his estimates.

The company forecast third-quarter revenue of between $10.9 billion and $11.1 billion, compared with average analyst estimates for $10.43 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

"What you saw this quarter is all parts of the product portfolio did very well in the marketplace," Ron Garriques, head of Motorola's cellphone division, told Reuters,

He said demand was particularly strong in North Asia and North America.

Motorola's shares rose by $1.05 in late trading on the Inet electronic brokerage after closing at $19.25 on the New York Stock Exchange earlier in the day.

Motorola said its share of the cellphone market rose to 22 percent from 21 percent in the first quarter.

Garriques said the "Q," its latest phone, which started selling in the second quarter at Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - news) and Vodafone Group (VOD.L), had sold 150,000 units in the first 30 days it was on sale.

Revenue for its cellphone division rose 46 percent to $7.14 billion. Revenue at its connected home unit, which makes television set-top boxes, rose 8 percent to $803 million. Its enterprise and networks division, posted revenue of $2.90 billion, up 3 percent from a year ago.

Motorola had fallen almost 20 percent in the last three months on concerns about its reliance on the Razr for growth amid intensifying competition and slowing demand.

Motorola's shares trade at almost 14 times 2007 earnings estimated by analysts, compared with a multiple of more than 16 times for bigger rival Nokia (NOK1V.HE), which has improved its phone lineup after it was criticized for lagging behind Motorola in design.