Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

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Motorola Earnings Growth Seen Stronger Than Peers
10.20.04, 11:14 AM ET

Piper Jaffray raised earnings estimates on Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ), although the research firm said it was "disappointed" with the company's third-quarter global handset shipments. Piper Jaffray noted that third-quarter results were generally in line with its estimates but said it was "disappointed that Motorola's global handset shipments were sequentially lower at 23.3 million units versus 24.1 million last quarter. We believe the slight disappointment in units was due to product refresh of the 'triplet' platform in Europe and Asia and management's historically low channel inventory entering the fourth quarter." The research firm said "Motorola currently has the strongest handset portfolio for the holiday selling season with its strong lineup of GSM products, the CDMA V.710, strong WCDMA portfolio, and several strong products in the pipeline." Based on expectations that the company will see strong handset trends and maintain better gross margin trends, Piper Jaffray raised the 2004 estimate to earnings of 87 cents per share on revenue of $35.5 billion, from earnings of 82 cents per share on revenue of $35.4 billion. The firm raised the 2005 estimate to $1.03 per share on revenue of $37.1 billion, from earnings of $1.00 per share on revenue of $37.0 billion. Piper Jaffray also raised the 2006 estimate to earnings of $1.12 per share from $1.11. The firm maintained an "outperform" rating on Motorola and said the $25 price target is "reasonable, as we expect Motorola to post stronger earnings growth than several of its competitors."


http://www.forbes.com/markets/2004/10/20/1020automarketscan05.html