Motorola Inc. posted a net income of $489 million, or 20 cents a share for the fourth quarter of 2003, trumping Wall Street expectations.
This figure contrasts with a year ago when the company had a net income of $174 million.
Although the company’s present chief executive, Ed Zander, presented these results, his predecessor Chris Galvin may be given some of the credit for creating this upbeat news. “The results provide further evidence that top-line growth has returned, and that further improvement in profitability can be achieved,” said Zander.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 17 cents as against 13 cents in the year-ago period.
It had a sales profile of $8.02 billion, a 4.2-percent jump from $7.70 a year ago.
Its handset unit suffered a decline of 3 percent to $3.3 billion on delays in rolling out handsets for the festive season. But orders increased 64 percent to $3.6 billion. It, however, had operating earnings of $127 million as against $294 million in the year-ago quarter.
In the network division, sales leaped 11 percent to $1.4 billion compared with the year-ago period and 30 percent from the third quarter. It enjoyed a 67-percent surge in orders to $1.8 billion. The division also had an operating earning of $138 million as against a $22 million loss in the same period last year. Excluding items, it had earned $125 million in contrast to $3 million last year.
The chip unit had a 2-percent rise in sales to $1.4 billion from a year ago and was up 12 percent from the previous quarter. The division had a profit this time; it was the only major loss-making division last quarter. The chip division had an operating profit of $25 million as against $18 million a year ago.