Nokia leaving Motorola behind

Nokia (NOK) isn’t being pulled down by the Motorola (MOT) malaise. The Finnish handset giant posted a strong fourth quarter Thursday morning, saying profit rose 44 percent from a year ago to 1.84 billion euros ($2.66 billion), or 47 euro cents a share. Sales rose 34 percent from a year ago to $22.8 billion. Nokia says it continues to gain ground on its rivals in the cell phone market, with its worldwide market share rising a percentage point and the average selling price of its handsets ticking up to 83 euros from 82 euros in the third quarter.

“Nokia’s excellent fourth quarter contributed to a year of high growth and increased profitability for the company, while our industry leading product portfolio drove our device business to an estimated 40% market share in the fourth quarter,” said CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. “At the same time we again increased our quarterly device margins, allowing Nokia to continue to invest for innovation and growth.”

By contrast, Motorola on Wednesday posted a 38 percent decline in quarterly handset sales and pledged again to shake up its stagnant product lineup - a poor showing that sent shares plummeting 19 percent even as the stock market posted a sharp afternoon rally. Motorola’s struggles help to explain why Nokia expects to gain market share again in the first quarter even in the seasonally slow first quarter - and why investors expect the quarter to be much slower for fading Motorola than for hard-charging Nokia.