Before the market opens tomorrow, mobile device maker Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is going to be announcing its fourth quarter numbers, and analysts are expecting to see a break even quarter from the struggling company.

Despite being one of the best known makers of cell phones, Motorola has had a tough couple of years, and has been losing its market share at an alarming rate. In 2007, the company remained the number two maker of cell phones, but 2008 was tough on the company, which now finds itself down in fifth place in market share.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) will report its third quarter earnings tomorrow morning, and we'll see what kind of results CEO Greg Brown has been able to muster. The wireless giant, which is about to split itself up soon, now may find its wireless division spinoff not quite the saving grace it was six months ago.

Indeed, Motorola has followed up a dismal 2007 with a subpar 2008 as well. The company still can't get itself out of the hole its distinctive RAZR phone left when it debuted in 2004. Since then, the company has not followed up with any blockbuster consumer products and has let global wireless handset vendors like South Korean giants LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics to literally eat its sales and profit lunch.

As such, expectations tomorrow morning are for Motorola to earn just a penny per share at revenue of $7.83 billion. Even this would be quite a drop from the year-ago period of $0.06 per share on revenue of $8.81 billion. Handset shipments for the quarter are expected to come in under 30 million units compared to the year-ago figure of over 37 million units. Motorola, for now, does not have the product portfolio or design moxie to outgun its rivals, and global market leader Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) continues to steadily up its market share as well. Every handset vendor is nipping at Motorola's heels, and unless the company ramps up -- well, everything -- 2009 will be another year to forget.

Even though Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone has torn the wireless market away from Motorola (NYSE: MOT)'s RAZR2 wireless phone, can the once high-flying wireless giant regain some sense of composure after a disastrous 2007? Not this quarter. Sorry, folks.

Although new CEO Greg Brown has only been chief executive for less than a month, the mess left behind by former CEO Ed Zander will take most of 2008 to fix. The last wireless hit from the company -- the RAZR -- did not see a successor and at the same time, Motorola has been challenged to find consistent profits as competitors nip at its heels. The RAZR2, which is a very high-end phone and a worthy follow-up to 2004's RAZR, has been completely overshadowed by Apple's iPhone. Result: the launch and sales (so far) of the RAZR2 have been a non-event, just at the time the company needed a home run. So far, the RAZR2 is not saving Motorola.

So, when the wireless giant reports earnings tomorrow, the consensus is for another disastrous quarter. Although earnings are expected to be 12 cents per share on revenue of about $9.65 billion, the 13% market share the company is expected to have would be down from 2006's 23 percent. Q4 wireless handset shipments are pegged at 40 million, representing that 13% market share.

Without a compelling wireless handset lineup that features access to 3G technology, it may take Motorola at least a few more quarters before it can battle back to more market share. The thing is that Motorola can't afford to take 24 months to bring advanced handsets to market unless it wants the competition to eat even more of its lunch.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is set to release its latest quarterly earnings this week, and earnings are expected to be $0.04 per share according to analyst estimates. Although Motorola CEO Ed Zander has jettisoned about 10% of the company's global workforce and has finally introduced a true successor to the record-setting RAZR handset from 2004 (the RAZR 2), he may just be biding his time until he gets the boot.

When Motorola's time comes tomorrow, the company will most likely report a profit -- its first in three quarters. But does a small quarterly profit make for a legitimate comeback? Not at all. The first half of this year saw a $209 million loss for the largest cellphone maker in the U.S., and a profit (even a small one) this quarter will be the final opportunity for Zander to produce a return to consistent profitability by the end of 2007. If he does not show this, expect a resignation. For Carl Icahn, who has been critical of Zander, it would be sweet justice.

Although cutting costs is the top tool for Zander, improving sales and margins is much more important if he doesn't want to be seen as a leader who can't produce growth quarter by quarter. His days may or may not be limited, but by the end of 2007, the writing will be on the wall. Either Zander finds a way to grow sales and profit beyond cost cutting, or investors who want to unlock more value from the company will scream until he's ejected from the company.

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The world's second-largest wireless handset maker -- Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) -- said last week that its profit for its fiscal fourth quarter would most likely miss estimates. Again, we see that analysts control the share price of companies based on "estimates" gleaned from past quarters and educated guesses. Nothing new to see here.

Motorola all but said that profit growth industrywide -- the wireless industry, that is -- is slowing more than forecast. So, that begs the question -- will Nokia disappoint as well? Samsung -- the world's third-largest wireless handset maker -- is seeing profits dip 8% for its latest quarter. Maybe Motorola is onto something here.

So, what are your estimates for Motorola's fourth quarter results? While Motorola CEO Ed Zander was joking about his company's finances last week while touting new Motorola products, should he have been explaining more about how Motorola is going to shore up its profit levee soon?

Here is a breakdown of Motorola's guidance a little over a week ago that sent Motorola (NYSE:MOT) shares sliding into a semi-deep abyss:

• Sales will fall about $200 million to $300 million short of previous guidance, coming in most likely in the range of $11.6 billion to $11.8 billion.
• Profits per share will likewise miss the internal forecast, approximating $0.13 to $0.16 per share, net. Detracting from those earnings, and most likely ignored by most analysts, will be the usual slew of non-cash "one-time items" such as stock-option expensing, charges for reorganizations and "investment-related losses," and "unusual" taxes.
• Margins will suffer badly. According to management, it actually beat its own predictions for cell phone sales, moving 66 million units' worth of product, a 48% volume improvement over last year's Q4. Unfortunately, it has had trouble selling its higher-priced phones, and a good portion of the sales it did make appear to have been low-end phones, many of which were likely sold in the developing world. Those kinds of sales look great when factored into the market share numbers -- but I dread seeing what they'll do to margins when Motorola reports its Q4 numbers.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know your thoughts on earnings expectations.