Motorola
The company reported fourth-quarter profit increasing 34% to $684 million, or $0.27 per share. Sales increased 27% to $8.84 billion.
Earnings for the year increased 137% to $2.2 billion, or $0.91 per share, with sales up 35% to $31.3 billion. The company paid down $2.7 billion in debt and ended the year with $5.4 billion in cash.
In more good news, Motorola managed to leap back over Samsung, which had made headlines when it swiped Motorola's No. 2 slot in cell-phone sales recently.
However, the bone of contention with investors was Motorola's first-quarter prediction -- still in line with previous estimates. That's got investors supposedly frothing at the mouth about slowdowns in sales and competitive pressures. There's also concern about one of its customers, Nextel
Nokia
Today's cold feet about Motorola seem to me to be a bit premature, with an air of "getting out while the going's good" in today's actions. Indeed, competitive concerns do pose a strong challenge for Motorola, and it will face difficult comparisons as it dukes it out with rivals. Then again, Motorola showed us a strong hand in the fourth quarter. Long-term investors might want to think twice before jumping on the selling bandwagon.
Talk to Fools about Motorola's future on our Motorola discussion board.
Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.