Motorola shares drop despite rise in profit

NEW YORK: Motorola Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings nearly doubled, but shares fell as its revenue fell short of some analysts' expectations.

The company expects revenue for the current quarter to be in a range of $9.3 billion to $9.5 billion, compared with the average Wall Street estimate of $9.33 billion. But estimates reached as high as $10 billion.

"It's decent topline guidance but I think some people were expecting even more," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue.

The world's second-largest mobile phone maker reported a net profit of $1.2 billion, or 47 cents per share, compared to $647 million, or 26 cents per share a year earlier, helped by strong sales of its mobile phones.

Earnings for the quarter included a net 12 cents per share gain for items including 13 cents per share for collection related to Turkish telecoms company Telsim.

Sales rose 18 percent to $10.43 billion, compared to $8.84 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

The company said it shipped a record 44.7 million mobile phone handsets during the quarter.

The company forecast 2006 first-quarter earnings of 27 cents to 29 cents per share for the 2006 first quarter. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates on average had targeted first-quarter earnings of 28 cents per share.

Motorola trades at about 21 times its 2006 earnings, a premium compared with larger competitor Nokia at 18 times earnings.

Shares dropped $1.65, or nearly 7 percent, to $22.70 in after-hours trade.