Motorola Inc reported fourth quarter earnings that showed sharp decline on a year-over-year basis but still managed to beat Wall Street expectations. The Schaumburg, Illinois electronics and telecommunications giant posted net income down 50.5% at $159m on revenue up 1.0% at $8.34bn. Earnings per share amounted to $0.26, besting the consensus estimate by $0.03 and showing an improvement over the past two quarters. Revenues also came in significantly higher than the $7.8-$8.0bn that analysts had been expecting. The company said the stronger-than-expected results were mainly attributable to strong sales of digital cellular phones, sequential sales growth in semiconductors and cellular infrastructure equipment, and the benefits of manufacturing consolidation, cost reduction and restructuring programs – which included the decision to cut 15,000 jobs. Motorola now reckons the programs should allow it to achieve an annualized rate of $1bn in profit improvement by mid-1999, well above the original goal of $750m. The programs are estimated to have generated $210m worth of continuing profit improvement in the fourth quarter alone and more than $300m for the second half of 1998. For the year, net loss was $962m on revenue down 1.3% at $29.4bn, compared to net income of $1.18bn, or $1.94 per share last year. Full-year results include restructuring charges of $1.98bn, while last year’s numbers include similar charges of $62m and $327m for the quarter and year, respectively.
