Sony Ericsson Results Lift Phone Makers

Apple, Nokia and Motorola are trading higher.
By Robert Holmes ,

Handset maker

Sony Ericsson

posted a decline in first-quarter sales and earnings, but related stocks rose as shipments and the average selling price were better than previous projections.

The Stockholm-based joint venture between

Ericsson

(ERIC) - Get Report

and

Sony

(SNE) - Get Report

said first-quarter income was slashed nearly in half to 133 million euros, or $212 million, from 254 million euros in the year-ago quarter.

Sony Ericsson said that revenue slipped to 2.7 billion euros, or $4.3 billion, from 2.9 billion euros a year earlier, which the company blamed on a "slowing market growth in mid-to-high-end phones in markets where Sony Ericsson has a strong presence."

The average selling price per unit, a key metric for cell-phone makers, fell to 121 euros from 134 euros a year ago and 123 euros in the fourth quarter of 2007. The ASP was down both sequentially and year-on-year due to the impact of softer sales of high-end and midrange models. Sony Ericsson said its market share for the quarter was down one percentage point sequentially to 8%.

Additionally, the company said unit shipments rose to 22.3 million in the first quarter from 21.8 million in the same quarter a year ago, although that was down sequentially from the 30.8 million units shipped in the fourth quarter.

Shares of Ericsson traded higher, though, as both shipments and ASPs were better than the company had projected. Last month, Sony Ericsson warned it would ship 22 million of its handsets during the quarter. At the same time, Sony Ericsson estimated that the average selling price per handset would be 120 euros. Ericsson was up 1.5% to $20.42.

Other handset makers were on the rise.

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

was adding nearly 1% to $28.90, while

Motorola

(MOT)

was off fractionally higher.

Among smart phone makers,

Palm

(PALM)

was gaining 2.7%,

Research In Motion

(RIMM)

tacked on 0.6% to $122.06, and

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

, which posts quarterly results after the closing bell, was climbing 2.2% to $163.72.

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