Nokia Rings Loud, Clear

Nokia(NOK Quote - Cramer on NOK - Stock Picks) hits it stride as rivals like Motorola (MOT Quote - Cramer on MOT - Stock Picks) stumble.

Nokia blew past fourth-quarter targets, adding market share, widening margins and sticking to a 10% industry growth forecast this year. Meanwhile, rival Motorola continues to lose business and take on red ink as it finds itself without a compelling phone line-up.

The Finnish mobile phone giant posted fourth-quarter earnings of 1.84 billion euros ($2.7 billion) for a per-share profit of 47 euro cents. That is a 44% increase over the year-ago quarter and well ahead of analysts' expectations for 1.66 billion euros in profits.

Sales for the quarter ended last month were $22.8 billion, a 34% jump from the $15 billion revenue level a year ago. Analysts had expected $21 billion in sales for the fourth quarter.

"Nokia's excellent fourth quarter contributed to a year of high growth and increased profitability for the company, while our industry leading product portfolio drove our device business to an estimated 40% market share in the fourth quarter, CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a press release.

Handset sales hit 133.5 million in shipments. That was a 20% increase over the third quarter and 27% above last year as the company enjoys great demand for phones across a wide range of prices. Analysts had expected 132 million phones would be sold in the quarter.

Showing no sign of an inventory glut or price war, Nokia posted a wider operating margin of 15.9%, compared with 14.6% in the third quarter.

As expected, the average sales price per phone, or ASP, fell to $121.70 from $130.50 a year ago, but up from the $120.20 level in the third quarter.

Nokia shares rose $2.04, or 6%, to $34.47 in premarket trading Thursday.