Shares of Nokia Corp. were up more than seven points Thursday on news from the company that it believes it will exceed previous forecasts for the third quarter. Nokia cited strong volume growth in the global mobile device market thus far this quarter for the upgrades.
Due to higher-than-expected volumes and cost controls, Nokia said it now expects earnings per share to be between 13 cents and 16 cents compared with the previous guidance ranging from 10 cents to 12 cents. Meanwhile, net sales are expected to reach $8.3 billion to $8.4 billion compared with previous guidance of $8 billion to $8.3 billion.
“The company has been able to deliver mobile devices in higher volumes than previously estimated despite industry-wide tightness in some components,” Nokia said in a statement.
For the second quarter, Nokia reported earnings of 18 cents per share and net sales of $8 billion. Following the issuance of those earnings, the company warned it expected “its profitability to continue to come under pressure during the second half of the year.”
The company plans to release full third-quarter results Oct. 14.
Shares of Nokia are currently trading at $13.52 each.
Earlier in the week, Motorola Inc. reaffirmed previous estimates that third-quarter revenues at its mobile-phone division would increase 30 to 40 percent from a year ago, and it has been relatively unaffected by Nokia’s price-cutting strategy.
Motorola is currently trading up about 3 percent at $15.54 per share.
Chip vendors benefited from Nokia’s upped forecast, with Texas Instruments Inc. trading up 6 percent at $19.96 per share.
