Nokia (NOK): An iPhone groupie

Tom Taulli — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:25:00 EST

Filed under: Products and Services, Launches, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Nokia Corp. (NOK), Smartphones

Last week, Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, tried out his impersonation of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) Steve Jobs. Kallasvuo launched a variety of cool-looking mobile devices, he extolled the importance of the Web and talked about how it's critical that devices be easy to use. It's a testament to how the iPhone has changed the rules of the game.

A key part of Nokia's new strategy is the result of the last year's $60 million purchase of Loudeye. Nokia has turned this online music platform into a new web service, called Ovi (which means "door" in Finnish).

Nokia is also launching four new devices, which seem to be eerily iPhone-ish. For example, some of the features include large, touch-screens, scroll-wheels for navigation and ultra-thin form factors.

But with Nokia's huge global footprint - which involves more than 100 million shipments per quarter - there should be some traction. Keep in mind that the company's prior moves into content - such as with its N-Gage game phone in 2003 - have been fairly lackluster.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Nokia (NOK): An iPhone groupie originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia (NOK) launches new service and soars

Brent Archer — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:28:00 EST

Filed under: Major Movement, Good news, Launches, Nokia Corp. (NOK), Options, Technical Analysis

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) has reached a new one-year high today after launching the new Ovi brand, which offers a range of internet services to Nokia-compatible mobile devices. If you think this means good times for the company, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on NOK.

NOK opened this morning at $31.47. So far today the stock has hit a low of $31.43 and a high of $31.82. As of 10:55, NOK is trading at $31.79, up $1.78 (6.0%). The chart for NOK looks bullish but deteriorating, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January bull-put credit spread below the $25 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in just 5 months as long as NOK is above $25 at December expiration. Nokia would have to fall by more than 21% before we would start to lose money.

NOK hasn't been below $25 since May and has shown support around $29.80 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due on 10/18/07) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by historical support around $27, plus the 200 day moving average is just under $25 and rising.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. DISCLOSURE: At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in NOK.

Nokia (NOK) launches new service and soars originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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