Friday, April 15, 2011

Nokia (NOK) Gets Bearish Earnings Preview from Cowen

Cowen & Co. analyst Matthew Hoffman maintained his "Underperform" rating on Nokia (NYSE:NOK), as the company moves towards its earnings report on April 21.

Hoffman said in a note, “The company is less than 3 months into a multi-year software and strategic transition that has (1) exacerbated competitive pressures in the upper tiers of its portfolio, (2) left it without a clear tablet strategy at a crucial time in the market’s development, and (3) not provided investors with sufficient details on the potential cost savings (especially in R&D) from the Microsoft (MSFT) tie-up.”

“The first quarter of 2011 is likely to be broadly in-line with EUR 10.0B/EUR 0.09 consensus, but we remain below 2Q11 consensus on the top and bottom lines (by EUR 320MM/EUR 0.01). A substantial 2H11 decline in Devices would not surprise us as OS/product transition challenges mount.”

Nokia was trading at $8.68, down $0.01, or 0.06 percent, as of 12:57 PM EDT.

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