Nokia disappoints, Google exceeds expectations
April 19th, 2008 | by Jose Miguel Cansado |
Nokia Q1 results have disappointed analyst, even if revenues grew 28% YoY to reach $20 billion and net profit reached $1.9 billion, up 25% from last year. Nokia shipped 115 M handsets in Q1, 27% YoY growth, with strong performance in emerging markets (Asia, Africa and Middle-East). Still Nokia lost market share from 40% to 39% worldwide.The average price per handset decreased to $125, from $132 in the previous quarter and $141 in the first quarter last year, consequence of the price pressure in emerging markets, and of losing ground on the high-end market to iPhone and Blackberry.
Despite the double-digit growth in revenues and profits, Nokia shares lost 13.5% on Thursday. The market seem to discount a decrease in margins as a result of the loss of brand leadership to iPhone, the threat of Android following iPhone’s revolutionary concept, and the erosion that Blackberry takes on Nokia sales to business customers.
The Market is re-positioning Nokia from the top high-end brand to the top brand in emerging low-price markets.
Meantime, Google exceeded expectations with a 42% YoY revenue growth up to $5.2 Bn, with a net profit growth of 30% to $1.3 Bn. The paid clicks in the first quarter were up 20 percent from a year ago, against the reports from comScore, the Web audience measuring firm, warning a sharp decline in clicks. Google stock surged 17%. The potential Microsoft-Yahoo merger creating a stronger competitor to Google does not seem to worry investors either.
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