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Motorola hits reduced 4Q targets

3 min read

Motorola met analysts’ reduced estimates in its fourth quarter Wednesday, earning $355 million, or 15 cents a share, on sales of $10.1 billion.

First Call Corp. consensus pegged Motorola (NYSE: MOT) for a profit of 15 cents a share following two profit warnings earlier in the quarter.

Motorola first warned in October that it would post a profit of 27 cents a share in the quarter, down from the original consensus estimate of 37 cents a share.

Sluggish chip and cellular phone sales prompted company officials lower estimates again in December.

The $10.1 billion in sales marks an 11 percent improvement from the year-ago quarter. However, the $355 million profit represents a 41 percent decline from the year-ago quarter when it earned $564 million, or 25 cents a share, on sales of $9.1 billion.

For the fiscal year, Motorola earned $1.9 billion, or 84 cents a share, on sales of $37.6 billion compared to a profit of $1.4 billion, or 63 cents a share, on sales of $32 billion.

Last quarter, Motorola met analysts’ estimates when it pocketed $598 million, or 26 cents a share, on sales of $9.5 billion.

“Despite the higher sales, increases in manufacturing costs and operating expenses caused operating profits to decline,” said COO Robert Growney in a prepared release. “We have taken steps to reduce the cost structure in our manufacturing activities and to tightly control operating expenses. Further steps will be taken in 2001 to return the corporation to generating growth in its earnings.”

Despite the weakness in chip and cellular phones sales, broadband communications sales kept an already bad quarter from being a disaster.

  • Personal communications sales improved 1 percent to $3.5 billion in the quarter but orders fell 20 percent to $2.9 billion. Operating profits slipped to $76 million from $242 million in the year-ago period.

  • Global telecommunications sales rose 19 percent to $2.1 billion and orders jumped 5 percent $1.8 billion. Operating profits in this segment declined to $193 million from $245 million in the year-ago quarter.

  • Commercial, government and industrial systems sales inched up 8 percent to $1.3 billion and orders increased 14 percent to $1.4 billion. Operating profits improved modestly to $185 million from $182 million.

  • Broadband communications sales surged up 52 percent to $1.1 billion and orders shot up 49 percent to $1.1 billion. Operating profits rose to $156 million from $56 million in the same period last year.

  • Chip sales moved up 7 percent to $1.9 billion but orders dropped 19 percent to $1.6 billion. Meanwhile, operating profits rose to $158 million from $80 million in the year-ago quarter.

    Company officials said chip orders were down in all regions.

  • Integrated electronic systems sales improved 9 percent to $764 million while orders inched up 4 percent to $708 million. Operating profits edged up to $69 million from $64 million in the year-ago quarter.

    Motorola shares moved up to a 52-week high of $61.50 in March before falling to a low of $15.81 in December.

    Eighteen of the 27 analysts following the stock maintain either a “buy” or “strong buy” recommendation.

    Analysts are forecasting a profit of 83 cents a share in fiscal 2001 on sales of $41.4 billion.