Shares of Nokia (NOK) were up 50 cents, or 8%, at $6.62, and were up as much as 10% earlier, in pre-market trading after the company this morning reported Q3 revenue and a surprise profit, boosted by a much-bigger-than-expected jump in mobile device unit sales.
Revenue in the three months ended in September fell 13%, year over year, to �8.98 billion, which was a bit better than the consensus �8.66 billion, yielding EPS, excluding some costs, of �0.03 per share.
Analysts had been modeling a 2 Euro-cent-per-share loss.
The upside appears to have come from the mobile devices group, which reported �5.39 billion in revenue, ahead of analysts’ �5.06 billion estimate.
Nokia’s mobile device volume rose 20%, quarter to quarter, to 106.6 million units, from 88.5 million in Q2, with smart devices up 1% at 16.8 million, and mobile phones up 25% at 89.8 million. That was down 3% from the year-earlier level.
That figure likely trumped most analysts’ estimates. For example, Sanford Bernstein’s Pierre Ferragu last week offered a forecast for shipments of 95 million units, a sequential increase of just 8%, and his estimate was higher than the consensus going into today’s report.
Average selling prices fell 18%, quarter to quarter, with smartphones dropping 8% and mobile phones dropping 11%. Average selling prices were down 22% from the year-earlier period.
The Nokia-Siemens network equipment unit reported a 16% year-over-year rise in revenue, to �3.4 billion, which was in line with consensus estimates.
CEO Stephen Elop said he was “encouraged by the progress we made during Q3.” Elop said the company’s “sales execution and channel inventory situation have improved.”
Elop said the company shipped 18 million units of mobile phones containing ! “< strong>dual SIMs,” network subscriber cards that let the device function as two different handsets. Such models are popular in markets such as China and India, and analysts have anticipated such devices might help Nokia regain its footing.
Still, the 1% increase in Nokia’s smartphone sales, a drop of 38%, year over year, will again put the company behind Apple (AAPL) for smartphone units sold in the quarter. Apple on Tuesday reported Q3 sales of 17.1 million iPhone units. Unless Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) comes up with a better number, it looks like Apple will retain bragging rights as the largest smartphone vendor in Q3.
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