What's Going On With Nokia Stock On Friday?

Nokia Corp NOK stock rebounded Friday from Thursday’s selloff, as its quarterly report failed to impress the Street.

The Finnish telecom company clocked a fiscal third-quarter net sales decline of 8% to $4.76 billion), missing the consensus estimate of $5.34 billion. The topline decline marked weakness in the Indian market.

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Nokia’s market share in North America dropped after losing contracts with Verizon Communications Inc VZ and AT&T Inc T.

CEO Pekka Lundmark told Reuters that telecom remains a limited growth market for Nokia despite some recovery. Lundmark highlighted that Nokia is now focusing on the data center and defense sectors for growth.

He also pointed to a demand rebound in India, supported by the Vodafone Idea deal and a possible contract with Bharti Airtel.

Meanwhile, Nokia has slashed around 2,000 employees across Greater China and 350 jobs across Europe to cut costs, Bloomberg cites familiar sources.

The cost cuts are part of Nokia’s plans to slash up to 14,000 jobs to save 800 million euros ($868 million)-1.2 billion euros by 2026, Reuters reports.

Reuters cites Nokia’s annual report as stating that as of December 2023, it had 10,400 employees in Greater China and 37,400 in Europe.

The U.S. sanctions on Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co cost Nokia its China market, which generated 27% of its sales in 2019, as per Reuters. Greater China generated 6% of Nokia’s sales in the current quarter.

Chinese operators retaliated against the U.S. embargo by snubbing European equipment. Nokia already sold part of a joint venture with Huawei in China in 2024.

Prior reports indicated Nokia’s plans to replace Lundmark because he failed to drive revenue for the company. However, the company snubbed the report and acknowledged their faith in Lundmark’s leadership.

Price Action: NOK stock is up 9.01% at $4.73 at the last check on Friday.

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Photo via Nokia