Moto wins back some respect in Q3: Razr2 shipments near the million mark

Motorola Inc. saw its net earnings fall by 94% for the third quarter-but Wall Street appeared to buy Chairman and CEO Ed Zander’s message that the company is improving and will have a better fourth quarter, sending the company’s stock up more than 4%.
Moto’s cellphone revenues were down 36% year-over-year to $4.5 billion, but improved slightly over the second quarter of this year. The company said it shipped 37.2 million handsets in the quarter, including more than 900,000 of its Razr2 devices. Motorola’s share of the global handset market for the quarter was around 13%, down from about 21% the third quarter of 2006, according to IDC.
The company’s device business posted an operating loss of $138 million, plunging from operating earnings of $843 million in the same quarter of last year.
Sales for Motorola’s enterprise mobility division were up 47% from the year-ago quarter to $2 billion, and its home and networks division’s sales increased 6% from the third quarter of 2006 to $2.4 billion. The company said it shipped its 2 millionth IPTV set-top device, five months after reaching the 1-million mark.
Zander said Moto was pleased with the performance of its cellphone business, and that it has strengthened its position in broadband video, WiMAX and other areas to remain on the upswing.
Indeed, the company’s earnings projections for the fourth quarter were higher than analysts had expected.