As you know, I am a daily contributor to StreetInsight.com, one of the sites operated by the Street.com. Among other things I do for them, I provide live commentary on conference calls. In the extended comments section available to subscribers is my commentary on MOT’s latest quarter including pre call thoughts and the live comments I posted. Overall, it was a good quarter for MOT and supports a continued bullish view of the shares.

Post Earnings, Pre Call Comments
Motorola looks like it had another strong quarter and guidance for 3Q is nicely above consensus and equals the high end of current estimates. You never know, but even with the high bar set by the recent estimate increases and stock price performance, this seems good enough to allow the shares to move higher.
EPS came in at 26 cents after backing out 12 cents in one-time items. Consensus was 25 cents having moved up steadily over the past month. Revenues were $8.83 billion against consensus of $8.55 billion. Handset shipments were 33.9 million which easily beat estimates and whisper numbers of 32-33 million. ASPs declined about 6% sequentially but some decline was expected due to initial shipments of a $40 handsets to emerging markets. Networks looks like it could be a little light as some had expected with revenues growing only 5.5%. Government and Enterprises also had a second consecutive sub par growth quarter with a revenue gain of just 4.7%. Handset margins look fine to me, especially with ASPs down a bit and the huge volume shipped. Margins are 10.2%, up 20 basis points sequentially. Total company margins are up 50 basis points sequentially to 11.1%. Leverage on the SG&A against the big top line gains is helping offset a drop in gross margins as mix shifts toward handsets.
The balance sheet is in great shape. Cash is $12.8 billion against debt of $5.3 billion, netting out to $3 per share.
3Q05 guidance looks good to me at 27-29 cents against a consensus estimate of 25 cents. A quick review of the estimates showed only a handful out of more than 20 that were at 27 or 28 cents. Revenue guidance of $8.9-9.1 billion is above consensus of $8.58 billion.
So the press release and financial tables read well ahead of the conference call if I am not making any mistakes. I have been fearful the bar was set too high for this report but so far so good.
Conference Call Notes