Nokia Trades Higher After Q2 Earnings Beat

Nokia Oyj NOK traded higher Thursday morning after reporting a top- and bottom-line second-quarter earnings beat.

What Happened

Nokia said it earned 0.05 euros per share in the second quarter on revenue of 5.69 billion euros ($6.34 billion) versus expectations of 0.02 euros per share and 5.51 billion euros. Operating profit (non-IFRS) improved from 334 million euros to 451 million euros while operating margin improved from 6.3% to 7.9%.

On a constant currency basis net sales rose 5% from last year due to improved overall industry demand, the competitiveness of its end-to-end portfolio and growth in four out of the six geographic regions.

Why It's Important

Nokia saw "good" year-over-year growth in the second quarter along with "meaningful" improvements in profit, a "robust" progress in expanding to software and enterprise businesses and "excellent" momentum in its IP Routing business, CEO Rajeev Suri said in the press release. The company also continued to expand its 5G business and now boasts 45 commercial 5G deals and nine live networks.

Nokia maintained its fiscal 2019, including non-IFRS EPS of 0.25-0.29 euro, operating margin of 9-12%, and "slightly positive" recurring free cash flow. Management also guided for growth to continue in 2020 with EPS guided to be in a range of 0.37-0.42 euro, operating margin of 12-16% and "clearly positive" recurring free cash flow.

The stock traded higher by 7.7% to $5.58 in Thursday's pre-market session.

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