Nokia: Rays of Hope Amid the Gloom

There's not much to cheer about in third-quarter results from mobile phone giant Nokia that included an unexpected net loss of €559 million ($834 million)—the first since the Finnish company started reporting quarterly results in 1996—and a nearly 20% decline in revenues year-over-year. That's €2.43 billion ($3.62 billion) less on the top line for the quarter. Investors were certainly in no mood to celebrate: By day's end in Helsinki trading, Nokia (NOK) shares were down nearly 11%, to €9.18, and they fell even more in New York.

But Nokia's bleak quarterly report issued Oct. 15 contained some important nuggets of hope. To start with, the company actually did somewhat better than many analysts had predicted. Overall revenues of €9.81 billion were slightly ahead of Wall Street consensus estimates, according to brokerage RBC Capital Markets (RY.TO). And tight cost controls allowed the world's largest mobile handset maker to turn in better-than-expected earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of €741 million, vs. consensus of €702 million.