Motorola Says 3rd-Quarter Financial Guidance Unchanged
September 27, 2000
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Motorola Inc. moved to
reassure investors that its third-quarter outlook
remains the same after rumors that the company
would issue a profit warning sent its stock to a
52-week low.
George Grimsrud, spokesman for the Schaumburg, Ill., company, said Motorola
hasn't issued a warning and is sticking to its original guidance. "We have not
changed our guidance," he said.
Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial expect the maker of handsets
and semiconductors to earn 26 cents a share for the quarter. In the year-earlier
quarter, Motorola reported net income of $91 million, or 14 cents a diluted share,
on sales of $7.69 billion.
The rumor was apparently sparked in Europe, although no traders interviewed
there identified a source.
Motorola in July indicated that it was on track to improve margins on handsets to
10% by the fourth quarter and expected to meet Wall Street's earnings
projections for the third quarter and full-year 2000. The company reiterated that
guidance in August after a Lehman Brothers report indicated that Motorola was
placing fewer orders for mobile-phone components.
The stock was the second most heavily traded on the New York Stock Exchange
Wednesday. By early afternoon, more than 20 million of the company's shares
had swapped hands, compared with the daily average of 13.3 million.
The stock earlier fell as low as $27.25, past the previous 12-month low of $28.08
set a year earlier. The shares were off $1.69, or 5.6% at $28.38 on the Big
Board in afternoon dealings.
The company is to report third-quarter results Oct. 10.
(Compiled from Dow Jones Newswires and other sources)
Copyright (c) 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. |
