Motorola Inc. continued its stellar ride with another record quarter, driven in large part by continued demand for the company’s tremendously popular Razr phone. Indeed, Motorola said it shipped 6.5 million Razr devices during its third quarter, totaling 12 million to date, which stands as a massive sales figure for a single model of phone.
“We are very excited about our record third-quarter results and overall performance year-to-date,” said Ed Zander, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Excluding reorganization charges, all four of Motorola’s businesses grew profitably during the quarter-a testament to the hard-working and dedicated talent across the global Motorola organization. We are especially pleased with the record results achieved by our Mobile Devices business for unit shipments, sales and profits.”
Companywide, Motorola posted revenues of $9.4 billion, beating most analysts’ expectations and way up from the $7.5 billion it scored in the same quarter a year ago. The company’s net earnings clocked in at $1.7 billion.
In Motorola’s phone business-its largest division-the company recorded sales of $5.6 billion, up 41 percent from the year-ago quarter. The company’s operating earnings increased to $597 million. Motorola shipped 38.7 million handsets in the third quarter, which the company said gives it a worldwide market share of 19 percent.
In Motorola’s networks business, the company posted sales up 7 percent to $1.6 billion and operating earnings of $268 million.
“We expect the strength to continue into 4Q ’05 and 2006, as the company leverages the Razr platform,” wrote CIBC World Markets analyst Ittai Kidron. The firm makes a market in Motorola securities. “We believe management can sustain this level of performance.”
