Motorola's Quarter results...sun shines on an Android screen!!

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"Motorola Shows surprising profits, thanks to Android"

Strength in Motorola's other units including network equipment and fewer sales of unprofitable, cheaper phones also bolstered the company's profit.



Motorola also forecast current-quarter earnings per share in a range that could beat average analysts' estimates.

Its shares rose 3 percent on Thursday and have gained 18 percent since January as more investors were willing to bet on its turnaround despite stiff competition from rivals like Apple Inc's iPhone.

Now the market is set to become even more crowded with the entrance of Hewlett-Packard Co, which on Wednesday announced a deal to buy Palm Inc.

Motorola is accelerating its exit from less advanced phones.

The mobile devices division still posted an operating loss of $192 million in the first quarter, but this was much narrower than its loss of $545 million a year earlier, according to Sanjay Jha, Motorola will start showing a positive profit on this years last Quarter.

While Motorola smartphone sales rose to 2.3 million from 2 million in the fourth quarter its overall phone sales fell to 8.5 million phones from 12 million in the last quarter.

This was short of the average forecast of 10.2 million from nine analysts contacted by Reuters but Jha said the sales decline made the unit's progress all the more impressive.

"To see that contraction in shipments ... and yet improve our operating loss (in mobile phones) is a hell of a feat" Sanjay Jha, Motorola's Co-chief executive who heads mobile devices told Reuters.

"I see this as a sign we're turning the mobile devices business around and making great headway in probably the most important segment of the mobile devices market which is smartphones," he said.

In the global market Motorola is expected to rank seventh in the first quarter, behind Nokia, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

But Jha estimated that it held its third place ranking in the North American smartphone market, putting it behind only iPhone and BlackBerry from Research In Motion.

He said that while total phone volumes would decline again this quarter, smartphones sales will increase sequentially, resulting in an improvement in operating losses.

Jha predicted growth for this quarter as Motorola's distribution expands. He also predicted that its new phones would do well, particularly in China.

NORTH AMERICA AND CHINA

It posted a first-quarter profit of $69 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a loss of $231 million, or 10 cents a share, in the same quarter the year before.

As well as strong phone sales in North America and China Motorola said the profit was helped by a better-than-expected profit in Motorola's network equipment business, which increased operating earnings to $112 million from $62 million in the same quarter the year before.

Revenue fell 6 percent from a year ago to $5.04 billion, and compared with Wall St expectations for $5.098 billion.

Motorola forecast current-quarter earnings per share of 3 cents to 5 cents, including expenses for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles. That compares with the average Street forecast of 3 cents per share according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company tweaked its target for 2010 smartphone sales to a range of 12 million to 14 million from its previous guidance of 11 million to 14 million. Motorola shares rose 21 cents, or 3 percent, to $7.13 on New York Stock Exchange.

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Source: Reuters