Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), a famous name in the wireless industry whose colleagues include Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE: TXN), and Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK), reported earnings for the fourth quarter on Thursday. While the stock may be up today, I'm not so sure I'd be a buyer of it.

It's not that the bottom-line numbers were wholly bad. Net profit rose 16% to roughly $1.1 billion. Earnings per diluted share on an adjusted basis increased 17% to $0.63. According this news source, that figure beat estimates by three pennies. That's all well and good, but that news source also states that Qualcomm is guiding below consensus. Not surprising, certainly, given what the markets are going through. But it still puts a damper on the stock's near-term potential, in my opinion. Plus, free cash flow was down 13% during the quarter, and it was flat for the twelve-month period.

Except for certain companies like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), I'm not really interested in playing the tech sector. If you had purchased Qualcomm near its 52-week low of $30.87, I'd be a seller into today's strength. No, I certainly can't predict the movement of stock prices, but I can tell you that I think Qualcomm could easily pull back from today's rally. The recession is going to worsen, and I don't think we've reached the point where the market will begin to discount better days. In fact, we're probably far off from that point. The rally that is going on in the markets as I write this (and by the time this gets published, it could be gone for all I know) feels like a dead-cat bounce. That wouldn't be good for Qualcomm's stock, I'd imagine. So, kudos to management for beating Q4 expectations. But I won't be rewarding you by buying your stock. Sorry!

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Freescale Semiconductor was bought by a private equity group in December 2006. Quarterly results since then have been disappointing. Although recently released 2Q 2007 results are up from 1Q 2007, results are still way behind comparable quarters before the company was taken private. There are numerous reasons for the last two quarters' worth of disappointing results. The first is that there continue to be many expenses related to the company's acquisition. The company also took on a heavy debt load in its acquisition. Most importantly, the wireless market overall is in a period of contraction, so sales are in decline. This is particularly true of Freescale's largest customer, the automotive industry. Freescale CEO Michael Mayer offered no prediction as to when the wireless market might become more active.

Net sales have been essentially flat in 1Q and 2Q 2007, at $1.36 billion and $1.38 billion respectively. Each of the three operating segments within Freescale lost money in 2Q 2007 when compared to a comparable quarter in 2006. The Transportation and Standard Products segment lost $92 million from 2Q 2006, posting earnings of $159 million. The Networking and Computer Solutions segment posted earnings of $328 million, down $42 million from 2Q 2006. The biggest loser by far was the Wireless and Mobile Solutions segment, which posted earnings of $353 million, down $161 million from 2Q 2006 earnings. With results like this it is no wonder Freescale has now turned to layoffs in order to cut costs, but ended up with a $38 million charge against earnings for severance costs. Losses continue to mount. Net losses for 2Q 2007 amounted to $288 million, while operating losses amounted to $268 million. If this rate of loss continues, look for Freescale to be resold or perhaps even taken public again.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) has joined the "RED" campaign to fight AIDS in Africa. Created by U2's Bono, the campaign began in Britain and has moved to the U.S. in time for the December holiday shopping season. Motorola will donate a portion of the proceeds from sales of special RED cell phones to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. Motorola joins with American Express, Gap, Nike, and other companies in this hybrid type of corporate philanthropy.

Motorola has partnered with Deutsche Telekom to invest in Ruckus Wireless, Inc., which makes "smart" Wi-Fi routers capable of beaming live TV and radio into and around the home. Ruckus makes the MediaFlex router that plugs into a box set on top the TV, much like a cable TV box. Using Internet Protocol TV, IPTV, the router can beam the signal to a Wi-Fi laptop or desktop computer in that room or even in another room. Motorola is betting the ability to beam the signal throughout a home or office without adding additional wiring will prove popular with consumers. The current Ruckus MediaFlex router retails for $159.

Motorola also rolled out its iRadio deal with National Public Radio (NPR) to provide leading public radio programming to radios in cars and homes, but now also to Motorola mobile phones. Motorola's iRadio offers over 600 channels of commercial-free audio programming.

Not all is going well with Motorola. In September, Motorola agreed to buy barcode scanner maker Symbol Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: SBL) for $15 per share, for a total of nearly $4 billion. Some Symbol Technologies shareholders have filed suit seeking to stop Motorola's acquisition of Symbol. In part, the shareholders think the price per share should be higher than $15. Symbol Technologies management says the suit is without merit. It wants the acquisition to go through.

Interested investors will want to listen to Motorola's Q3 earnings call on Tuesday 17 October, beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will soon begin selling three popular brands of Motorola phones - the Razr, the Slvr and the new Krzr by early November. There is already a waiting list for customers who want a Krzr. Sprint is the #3 U.S. wireless provider. Its competitor, Cingular Wireless, is #2, and has been selling Motorola models for the past several years. Sprint shares closed up 19 cents at $17.06 on the news. Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) shares closed up 17 cents at $25.17.

In addition to increasing its wireless presence in the U.S. market, Motorola announced that it will provide the Miami Dade Police Department with one of the most advanced biometric ID systems in the country. The fingerprint system is the Motorola Printak Biometric Identification Solution (BIS). Not only is this new system faster, but it is also more accurate and can work with partial prints as well as palm prints. The Miami Dade police have solved seven cold homicide cases using the new biometric fingerprint system.

Motorola supplies more than 300 public safety agencies in over 40 countries with some of the most advanced ID systems available. Additionally, Motorola's new biometric ID systems can readily access data from and forward data to systems in other fingerprint databases.

Motorola is also demonstrating its MOTOwi4 system to offer users fixed, portable and mobile wireless connections and applications. Motorola's MOTOwi4 technology is being used by Sprint to build its WiMAX system throughout the U.S. Motorola's WiMAX system is also being used by U.S. armed forces in Pakistan.

Motorola investors will want to listen to Q3 earnings call scheduled for Tuesday, 17 October 2006, after the close of the market. Registration for the conference call is available at the Motorola site.