Motorola third-quarter profit plunges, sales in cell phones fall 36 percent

Wireless technology company Motorola Inc. said Thursday its profit plunged in the third quarter, as sales fell substantially in its cell phone business.

Motorola posted profit of $60 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $968 million, or 39 cents per share. On a continuing operations basis, the company said it earned 2 cents per share, including 4 cents per share in charges for layoffs and asset writedowns.

Sales fell to $8.81 billion from $10.6 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial on average expected profit of 4 cents per share, excluding items, on sales of $8.81 billion.

Motorola said sales in its mobile devices segment fell 36 percent. The company has struggled to produce popular handsets of late. It said its new RAZR 2 phone shipped 900,000 units in the quarter.

For the fourth quarter, the company forecast earnings from continuing operations of 12 cents to 14 cents per share, excluding one-time items. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial on average expect earnings per share of 10 cents for the fourth quarter.