Motorola Warns Fourth Quarter Will Fall Short of Expectations

Sound familiar? Motorola(MOT) this morning became the latest tech company to say it will miss already lowered earnings targets for the fourth quarter.

Motorola, a maker of cell phones and semiconductors, said sales for the fourth quarter will be $10 billion and it will have earnings of 15 cents a share. Motorola had earlier said it would hit sales of $10.5 billion and reach earnings of 27 cents a share for the quarter. The 25 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial are expecting Motorola to earn 27 cents a share.

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The company said first quarter 2001 sales are expected to be $8.8 billion, with earnings per share of 12 cents. It said it will not give full-year 2001 guidance until it announces its final earnings results for 2000, but that the estimates will likely be lowered. Motorola has previously said it was expecting $44 billion in 2001 sales and $1.20 per-share earnings. Analysts are expecting earnings of $1.18 for 2001, according to First Call.

Motorola blamed its disappointment on the slowdown in the chip sector and "delays in achieving expected cost reductions in wireless phone production." In October, Motorola said the weak euro would hit its fourth-quarter results.

As Nokia said earlier this week, Motorola today said it expects robust growth in the global wireless telephone market.

Motorola closed yesterday at $17.81. Its 52-week high is almost $62. It was lower in preopen action.

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