Nokia shares drop due to weak outlook on prices and earnings

Shares in Nokia fell yesterday as analysts lowered their estimates and target prices, after the world's largest mobile phone maker by volume gave a weak outlook in its fourth-quarter report. Nokia said on Thursday it expected its phone business' underlying earnings to be around breakeven in the first quarter, well below analysts forecasts, and said sales of its older Symbian smartphones were falling faster than the firm had expected. "I am more worried about the near-term outlook after the report than I was before," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies. "As 2012 consensus estimates are likely to come down on this report, we would be more inclined to be sellers in the short term," he said. Article continues below Shares in Nokia were 2.7 per cent lower at ¤4.05 by 0833 GMT, compared with a 0.4 per cent weaker STOXX 600 European technology shares index. A year ago, Nokia unveiled a major strategy shift, replacing its legacy Symbian platform with Microsoft Corp software. But Symbian phones are still a vast majority of its smartphone sales. ‘Improvement' S&P Equity Research stuck to its ‘hold' rating on the stock, but cut 2012-14 earnings per share estimates on average by 30 per cent due to "a more painful transition from Symbian to Windows". Deutsche Bank lowered its price target on the stock to ¤3.8 from ¤4 and cut earnings estimates. "Declining legacy revenues and a slower-than-expected Windows ramp make a meaningful margin/earnings improvement in 2012 diffcult for Nokia," Deutsche analysts said in a note.