Replies to post #250742 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[nessco]

I'm talking about everyone commenting on dmiller's trades.

[AMCJAX]

I agree with Rev, fundamentally, here is a large player in our playground and they owe us hundreds of millions of dollars. We would like to know what condition they are in.


I thought NOK had a butt load of cash, am I mistaken?
For some reason I recall BILLIONS in cash?
Yahoo shows them with $53 billion in assets and $33 billion in liabilities

If you read recent headlines, NOK is making fast moves to get lean - this means either they are struggling to survive (I personally doubt) or they are waking up and changing their ways to adapt to a very lean and competitive environment (and buckling up to pay IDCC which they now realize is around the corner)

[jjff]

Not hardly they certainly didn't want to settle in good times! They must pay, sure they will already be getting enough of a break!

[ellismd]

Are you trying to infer Nokia may have been a house of cards?

[Eric]

Nokia's Financial Condition

Rev,

<< I care what happens to Nok. The reason is obvious. If Nok was in a strong financial condition, I would not monitor Nok that closely. ... I want a better understanding of Nok current financial condition. >>

Nokia's financial condition is very good, strong if you will. I'd normally qualify theit financial condition with excellent or superb, but Q4 was a stunner for most large caps in IT and Nokia was no exception.

Nokia's Q4'08 and CY2008 unaudited IFRS financials are here ...

http://tinyurl.com/bc78yl

The Nokia Corp. 2008 US SEC Form 20-F which reconciles audited IFRS to GAAP should be published within 30 days.

Nokia Total cash and other liquid assets totaled €6.8 Billion ($9.6 bil. USD) at the end of Q4'08 and CY2008.

Wise to remember that Nokia manages for shareholder value in the best sense of that term, and the two primary vehicles to do that have been the annual dividend coupled with significant share buyback on a QoQ continuous programmed basis regardless of share price, and the annual retirement of shares held in treasury coupled with virtually no offsetting options creep due to relatively low options payout to execs and employees as a component of compensation. The combination of the two has reduced overall cash significantly in recent years to what OPk decided was a sensible max but buybacks are now postponed and dividends reduced to buoy cash and with an eye towards picking off a strategic acquisition or two.

Last year Nokia paid a combination of cash and ST borrowing (`50/50) for the unusually large (for them) strategic acquisition of Navteq which is now a wholly owned subsidiary. In retrospect that might now seem to have been excesively costly but it was then or never or a major IT player like Microsoft or Google (or much smaller Garmin) would have scooped them for strategic reasons.

At the end of 2008 Nokia Corp had a Net Cash ending balance of €5.548 Billion ($7.82 bil.) and LT Debt of €861 million ($1.2b) with ST Borrowing of €3.578 billion (~5.0b). ¹

[¹ ReutersProVestor Nokia Corp. Company Report pages 17, 19 with EUR to USD conversions made at the 12/31/2008 Interbank rate].

Nokia net income after taxes was only €551 million, down from €1,055 in the prior quarter but compare that to the Korea's big conglomerate shooters Samsung and LG who like Japan's Sony, posted losses in Q4. and had significantly lower operating margins in handsets

Nokia operating cash flow in Q4 was negative €0.3 billion, including the large one-time €1.7 billion lump-sum cash payment made to Qualcomm as part of the previously announced license agreement, but excluding the one time Qualcomm payment, the operating cash flow was a positive €1.4 Billion ($2.0 bil.).

Nokia senior management is and has been extremely fiscally astute. Current CEO OPK authored their original balance sheet strategy in between operational assignments -- including one in Dallas, TX -- when he was Jorma's (himself a former Nokia Corp. CFO) original and two time CFO. Riick Simonson stationed in White Plains NY close to US capital markets is his hand picked successor and protege and has acquitted himself very ably to date.

To make best sense of Nokia's Q4 and year ending 2008 financials, if your interested in them I'd heartily recommend listening Rick on the Q4 and year ending earnings CC and pull down the presentation prop he utilized to guide the listen ...

http://investors.nokia.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=107224&p=irol-newquarterlyearnings

Best source for Nokia historical financial abstracts and current action is Reuters but since Nokia accounts in the Euro you'll want to "View NOK on other exchanges" [click] not NYSE, and click and then drill down on Nokia Oyj NOK1V.HE where the majority of its shares are traded by global institutional investors, 6 hours ahead of the NYSE opening bell.

Best source for detailed Nokia historical financial abstracts (or those of any ADS converted to USD) rather than Euro dollars is Morningstar, but they are rather slow to bring some of the detail current and regardless of source be careful of currency conversion date. Stocks traded here in ADRs can be tricky to follow in USD. I stay away from (otherwise fine) Yahoo! Finance for those stocks for several reasons.

<< I think NOkia current financial condition could be effecting Nokia negotiations with IDCC.>>

I'd agree with that.

Best,

- Eric -