Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shares are high flying this morning, opening over 8% higher at $8.43. Motorola reported second quarter financial results, posting an unexpected modest profit, beating sales estimate and saying the planned spinoff is on track (see more of today's earnings news).By the numbers, the largest U.S. mobile-phone maker net income was $4 million, or break-even on a per-share basis, an improvement over last year's quarter loss of $28 million, or 1 cent a share as the company cut jobs. Excluding costs from job cuts, earnings came at 2 cents a share, surprising analysts who had expected a loss of 3 cents per share! Revenue fell 7.4% to $8.08 billion, but beat estimates.
Even the handset division with its widening losses as phone sales slumped 21% actually sold more phones than was expected and sequentially even showed sales growth. The $346 million loss in this division was offset by profit at the two-way radio and set-top box businesses. These units performed well with sales growth and operating profits. A positive operating cash flow and reduced cost structure were other good elements in the report.
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