Motorola shares drop despite rise in profit

Reuters reports on Motorola's fourth-quarter earnings, which "shot up 86 percent on the strength of demand for its mobile phones such as the popular Razr." Albert Lin at American Technology Research thought "the results seemed tepid to investors who have gotten used to Motorola turning in blowout quarters thanks to its hot mobile phone line." He said, "In the world of expectations, 'good' is no good when people want 'great.'"

The company's 2006 first-quarter revenue forecast of $9.3 billion to $9.5 billion was in line with Wall Street estimates. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue said, "It's decent topline guidance but I think some people were expecting even more."

Edward Snyder at Charter Equity Research said, "Motorola's been on a tear ... but to sustain these market-share gains, there'd better be some very nice phones coming out later in '06."

According to the company, "mobile handset shipments rose 40 percent from the same quarter last year, and revenue in that division was up 30 percent to $6.5 billion from last year."