Losses swell on weak cellphone sales

Article Excerpt

MOTOROLA INC. $5.92 (New York symbol MOT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 2.3 billion; Market cap: $13.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; WSSF Rating: Average) shipped 14.7 million cellphones in the first quarter of 2009. That’s down 46.4% from 27.4 million a year earlier. This was the main reason why Motorola’s first-quarter losses were $291 million, or $0.13 a share, up from $194 million, or $0.09 a share. The recession also continues to lower demand for Motorola’s other products, such as set-top cable boxes and wireless infrastructure equipment. Sales fell 27.9%, to $5.4 billion from $7.4 billion. Because of the weaker sales, the company is cutting 5,400 jobs (or 8% of its workforce) and closing plants. These moves should save it $219 million in the rest of 2009. Beyond that, Motorola expects to save $313 million a year. However, the company’s cellphone sales will probably remain weak until it launches its new smartphone in the fourth quarter. Motorola is…