Motorola Profits Fall But Outlook Improves

Motorola Inc. announced its third-quarter earnings on Thursday. The results weren’t pretty, but they were somewhat better than numbers from the second quarter of 2007, Motorola’s most dismal yet.

For the third quarter, Motorola reported net income of $60 million, or 3 cents a share. That’s better than the 1 cent per share results for the second quarter although it’s a far cry from the net income of $968 million, or 39 cents per share, for last year’s third quarter.

Sales fell 17 percent to $8.8 billion.

“The third quarter was about progress," Ed Zander, Motorola’s CEO, told analysts in a conference call on Thursday. "We also recognize there's a lot of work to do."

Motorola is struggling to find a successor to its RAZR, whose popularity and adoption has declined as competitors introduce cooler devices such as the Apple iPhone. Earlier this year the company reorganized its business units, shook up its leadership team and laid off workers. Motorola has said its handset division won’t be profitable at all in 2007.

Motorola’s stocks rose slightly during mid-day trading. Shares were priced at $19.40, up nearly 5 percent.

Motorola Inc. www.motorola.com

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