Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: engineer who wrote (12134)	7/8/1998 10:38:00 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

engineer- I think it was Robert Allen (at AT&T). Jon.

To: engineer who wrote (12134)	7/8/1998 12:40:00 PM
From: 2brasil	Respond to of 152472

ot Motorola Earnings Plunge By CLIFF EDWARDS AP Business Writer CHICAGO (AP) -- Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news), its second-quarter earnings highlighting the battering it has taken by pricing pressures and inefficiency in most of its operations, plans to unveil a major restructuring plan this week aimed at turning its fortunes around. The world's largest maker of mobile phones, pagers and telecommunications equipment on Tuesday reported operating earnings that beat Wall Street expectations but showed a troubling decline in orders for its goods. Motorola chief executive Christopher Galvin warned that a sharp drop in consumer confidence in Asia likely will affect earnings for the remainder of the year. But he said the company's long-awaited reorganization plan will reduce costs and improve efficiency, saving $750 million. For the three months ended June 27, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company reported a net loss of $1.33 billion, or $2.22 a diluted share, compared to a net gain of $268 million, or 44 cents a diluted share, after a one-time charge in the same period a year ago. The current quarter also included a charge: $1.98 billion for restructuring costs. Excluding that charge, earnings were $6 million, or 1 cent a diluted share. Those earnings beat Wall Street expectations of a loss of 4 cents a share, according to a survey of analysts by First Call Corp. The company's stock was down $1.62 1/2, or nearly 3 percent, at $53.37 1/2 a share this afternoon after Motorola President Robert L. Growney said he expected the third quarter to be essentially a duplicate of the poor second-quarter results. The company reported sales fell 7 percent in the second quarter to $7 billion from $7.5 billion in the year-earlier period. Motorola has been battered in recent months in two of its larger businesses -- computer chip sales and cellular products. The company has seen steady market share erosion to such cellular phone competitors as Finland's Nokia Corp. and Sweden's LM Ericsson, who for months have been offering increasingly popular digital phones while Motorola has yet to provide details on when its phones will be widely available. Company executives said in April they would reorganize the phone-equipment business to develop go-anywhere packages of products for the Internet, software systems and wireless data services via satellite transmissions. Many of the recently announced 15,000 job cuts amounting to 10 percent of the company's global work force are expected to come during that reorganization, analysts have speculated. Cellular product sales for the quarter fell 1 percent to $2.78 billion and orders were down 11 percent. In the paging and other messaging information segment, sales fell 32 percent to $771 million, while orders plunged 35 percent. Meanwhile, Motorola's semiconductor business -- which accounts for nearly a third of annual sales -- has sunk under the weight of problems in key Asian production and consuming regions. The computer chips help run everything from pagers to electronic devices and cars, but Asian competitors, particularly from South Korea, have been sharply cutting prices to weather the economic damage in their countries, stealing business from Motorola. Demand in the region, meanwhile, fell sharply just as Motorola completed massive facilities designed to meet expected increases in demand. Analyst Brian Modoff at BT Alex. Brown said while the earnings were above expectations, the short-term picture looks dim as orders in most of Motorola's segments continue to slide. He said the company's fortunes may turn on its restructuring plan. ''We'll hopefully have a better view of what they plan to do very soon,'' Modoff said. ''Where they're going to restructure and how would be very important. They're going to have to make significant changes in their messaging and semiconductor segments because you've got significant overcapacity there now.'' For the first half of the year, the company reported a net loss of $1.15 billion, or $1.92 a diluted share, compared to a net gain of $593 million, or 97 cents a diluted share, the year earlier. Sales fell to $13.9 billion from $14.2 billion.