Motorola files another small profit in fourth quarter
By Chris Ziegler 
posted January 28th 2010 12:25PM
posted January 28th 2010 12:25PM
Moto appears to be continuing its long, arduous road toward recovery on news of its financial results for the fourth quarter of '09 -- or, at the very least, it's not losing any ground. Overall, the company posted a meager profit of $142 million for the quarter on revenue of $5.723 billion, $14 million better than a quarter prior and a staggering $3.799 billion better than the same quarter a year ago. Breaking it down by division, Mobile Devices is still in the red, but not by terribly much -- it did $1.8 billion in sales with an operating loss of $132 million, while Home and Networks Mobility (the guys responsible for wireless infrastructure and set-top boxes) made $91 million on sales of $2 billion. Some 12 million handsets were shipped in the quarter alongside 3.4 million set-tops; that marks a downtick of 1.4 million phones from the third quarter, but as the company shifts focus to smartphones, it makes sense that would happen to a certain extent -- provided the company can keep margins high. The company expects to lose somewhere between 1 and 3 cents per share in the first quarter of 2010, so the recovery isn't complete yet -- but stemming the bleeding was an important first step.
go moto!
@skyblaze +1 moto makes profit it'll rain
@skyblaze
seconded! "$3.799 billion better than the same quarter a year ago". that is an absolutely incredible turn-around!
@skyblaze
It's more like: Finally!!!
ohshi-
moto lost 12% today :(
http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:MOT
Hay! Did anyone know that Apple has a new device out called the iPad?!?
@tadghostal ENOUGH ALREADY LET IT DIE!!!
@tadghostal
NO WAI!
@tadghostal just 23 apple articles in a fex days... there aren't probably as many others...
Droid does...save companies.
@B3astofthe3ast
Sadly they spend all the money on new low budget craphones.
Why? Why didn't they learn and keep making awesomeness like the Droid.
@Cence
The low end can still be profitable in sheer volume of sales. Not everyone needs a Droid/Milestone.
@B3astofthe3ast
http://seekingalpha.com/article/185289-motorola-time-to-hang-up?source=yahoo
please read this
Go Moto! America! Fuck Yea!
@zephxiii
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah!
First Nokia, now Moto. Good stuff.
The logo made me laugh... lol
Good for Moto. Would have thought that Droid would have pulled them up already, but I guess they were bleedin so bad even Droid couldn't fix it straight out. Hopefully they can improve their product selection further.
@Rev
This is 4th Quarter. Like last year. When the Droid launched in November.
@Kamokazi
I know, I meant the straight out in connection to their Q1 prediction of small loss. Ah surprise, engadget forgot to mention. Their guidance was something like 0.01 to 0.03 loss per share for Q1. Nothing serious but still dangling at break even.
too bad the stock is down 12%
I'm glad they are making a recovery, they made some classics (star tac, Razor, etc). You and Nokia show these piss ants (cough *apple* cough) how a mobile phone is suppose to be done!
Hey Chris, I am starting to think that you guys have something against Europeans.
Moto makes a meager profit and it is news with a happy face... "Little" operating loss of 200 Million dolars is far from small. Meanwhile Nokia regains marketshare,jumps over Apple in quarter profit and? "Nah, just a liiitle footnote here is more than deserved"
Since I am good EU citizen, congrats to moto. But Droid wont save the handset division, keep up the good work.
@Mr w00t
Because most of these folks work for Motorola.. they have to say good things about Motorola, remember "Big Brother is Watching you" .. wait till Motorola do another round of cost cutting, lets see if they still say "Go Moto Go"
I agree, go Moto!
Keep up the good work Motorola!
That's pretty low for being the so called year of the droid.
@angermeans
I guess you are un-aware of how much shit Moto was in prior to the release of the Droid...
Go Moto, you can do it!!!
Hey Motorola, you used to own this space, now your a has been. I owned plenty of your crappy phones, the new Droid is nice though.
It's clear the overhyped overblogged droid failed to even make a dent. iPhone made $3.8 billion profit. Sick or what. One thing we do know.
Droid doesn't sell.
iPhone does.
I guess multitasking isn't what the American consumer wants after all.
It's all about the user experience. Which only iPhone can deliver.
Notice how droid n pre owners still rely on iPod touch for their music n browsing. Lol!!!
@logic thinker
Your logic definitely needs more thinkering
@logic thinker
Oh, almost forgot. Go Moto!
(quite happy Droid user owner here)
@logic thinker Thankfully Moto is putting out good, innovative options and not just "what the American consumer wants".
Cause looking at what Americans want (McDonalds, Lady Gaga, Uggz and Facebook), they seemingly want generic dumbed down and mass-advertised garbage.
Stick with your Big Mac of the smartphone world, I want something different and am glad that Moto is willing to provide me options.
@logic thinker Except it sold far more than anticipated, was only around part of the quarter, and is considered a massive success by all involved. Get a clue, fanboy.
You think the iPhone paid for its development in 2 months? It didn't.
@(Unverified) In fact, they knocked it out of the park number-wise on the number of Android sales, but nobody is paying any attention to that, but the market is punishing both good quarters and bad quarters this month.
The most optimistic figures called for sales of 1.5 million Android phones - 1.2 million Droids and .3 million Cliqs. They sold a total of 2 MILLION Androids! And that's for only 2 months of the quarter for the Droid. Some dude actually estimated sales of only 600,000 for the Droid. What an idiot. Any research into mobile internet market share would have shown that to be an impossibly low number.
@truename
Apple just sell 1 phone, and made $3.8B while Motorola have countless of phones in their portfolio.. and NO, I am not a fanboy of Apple..
Just a lot of rethinking for Motorola strategy..
just imagine, they are pushing out over 20 Android phones in 2010.. the amount of manufacturing dollars to do that is huge.. while they should be doing is to do more marketing / upgrade the Droid instead of 20 others phone..
Moto folks, be prepared for another round of cost cutting coming in Q1 2010..
Speaking of profit, how do you think the iPad is going to do? I'm a bit concerned, to be frank, because this new "iPad" hasn't been getting a lot of coverage lately. I guess only time will tell and maybe in the future they'll pick up some press coverage.
@sonicyoof
LOL yeah! Did apple launch something this week? I'm not sure?
@Mr Magoo
Yeah, they just launched a giant version of an iPod touch..frankly, a stupid move by Apple.
It sucks that they're working SO hard to barely make a dime.
And I'm pissed about my new premium smartphone. How is it the norm that they ship an extra battery and charger with the implied "lug this around, too?" The electronics companies are complaining about battery technology being too slow instead of learning how to make their technology work with the battery technology of today.