As the world's largest mobile-phone maker, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) should be happy. Despite an increasingly uphill path to growth, and numerous pesky competitors, Nokia appears to be revving things up.
Fiscal first-quarter revenues edged up 3.7%, to $13.5 billion, but net income dropped 6.6% to $1.33 billion, or $0.25 per share. The company launched phones including the 6300, n95, and e65, and it expects to continue its aggressive product release schedule while focusing on cool multimedia features.
Nokia continues to gain traction emerging markets, with growth rates of more than 30% in China, India, and other parts of Asia. Through manufacturing and distribution efficiencies, it has maintained a steady average selling price on its phones, and its operating margins increased impressively from 33.1% to 32.4%.
As Motorola (NYSE:MOT) struggles, Nokia may pick up more customers over the next couple of quarters. Motorola posted a fiscal first-quarter loss of $181 million as its sales dipped 1.8% to $9.43 billion. It's suffering from a glut of inventory, a relatively weak assortment of phones, and an ongoing proxy fight with activist shareholder Carl Icahn.
While Motorola's woes may provide a short-term boost, Nokia is looking to the long haul as well. It sees abundant potential in video, social networking, games, and Internet applications, so expect Nokia to ramp up acquisitions and partnership deals. It's already teamed up with Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) for instant messaging, email, calendars, and other online services.
Several years of work are finally paying off for Nokia. The company's products are much cooler, its emerging-market strategy looks intact, and it has an opportunity to capitalize on Motorola's troubles. All of these factors suggest that Nokia's momentum should continue for some time.
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Fool contributor Tom Taulli, author of The Complete M&A Handbook, does not own shares mentioned in this article. He is currently ranked 2,719 out of 25,386 in CAPS. Yahoo! is a Stock Advisor pick. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
