Motorola posts 4Q profit but outlook is low

Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. said Thursday it expects to release about 20 new devices this year, including half of them as smartphones, as it transitions away from regular feature phones.

Motorola, which posted a profit in its fourth quarter but expects a loss during this current first-quarter, said the phone market likely will shift again this year.

"We expected the mid- to high-tier market to decline as consumers migrate to smartphones," Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha told analysts during a conference call this morning.

Motorola told Wall Street analysts that it posted a fourth-quarter net income of $142 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a loss of $3.66 billion, or $1.61, a year ago. Profit, with some exclusions, was 9 cents a share. Sales were $5.7 billion, compared to $7.1 billion for the same period a year ago.

For all of 2009, Motorola had a net loss of 51 million, compared to about 4.2 billion the year before. The whole year sales were $22 billion, compared to $30 billion for the prior year.

The company expects to lose 1 cent to 3 cents during its current first quarter.

Jha said the company will continue to look at further supply chain efficiencies and tightly manage expenses.

"There is a lot of work ahead of us," he said.

Late last year, Motorola unveiled its Cliq and Droid smartphones with the Google Android platform and its MotoBlur application geared to social networking fans. It also released another Android phone in China and expects to in Korea soon.

Jha added that the company plans to enhance features on upcoming Android phones for the U.S. market, including more innovation and interactive music and photo sharing.