Preview: Motorola's warning shifts focus to Nokia
By our markets staff
Published: June 9 2003 14:18 | Last Updated: June 9 2003 23:20
Nokia's trading update will be at the centre of attention on Tuesday following a profits warning from US rival Motorola on Monday.
Motorola, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker after Nokia, lowered both its sales and earnings estimates, blaming weakness in Asia due to the Sars virus. It added that the negative effects could continue throughout the rest of the year.
In April Nokia targeted sales growth of between 12 per cent and 14 per cent in its mobile phone unit and "somewhat less" for the whole group, due to weakness in its networks division.
It also said earnings per share would come in between Euro0.13 and Euro0.16 and many analysts expect this range to be narrowed towards the lower end.
Nokia will guide investors about its performance in the second quarter at 0900 GMT or midday in Helsinki.
Shares in Nokia fell 3 per cent to Euro15.08 on Monday.
In the US, no major economic reports are expected Tuesday, although governors of the Federal Reserve Board are expected to make speeches that will be closely watched by investors.
Fed chairman Alan Greenspan is expected to testify on the natural gas industry and the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank is expected to release regional manufacturing survey for May.
Among the companies expected to report on Tuesday earnings results from last quarter, Lennar, the homebuilding and mortgage financing company, is expected to report quarterly earnings of $1.70 per share, and UTi Worldwide, a business software group, is expected to report earnings of 23 cents per share, according to analyst consensus estimates. |
