Nokia’s stock price fell almost 15 percent in early morning trading after its first-quarter earnings missed analysts’ estimates.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected Nokia to post sales of about $13 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of 14 cents, but the handset maker said first-quarter revenue came in at just $12.65 billion with EPS of 12 cents.
“We continue to face tough competition with respect to the high end of our mobile device portfolio, as well as challenging market conditions on the infrastructure side,” said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in the company’s earnings report.
Nokia posted sales of $8.87 billion on shipments of 107.8 million units. The average selling price of its devices fell to $82.38 as competitive price pressure offset a shift toward higher-end devices.
Nokia’s global market share slipped to 33 percent in the first quarter from 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 after a 17 percent increase in sales to China failed to offset sequential declines in all of its other global markets.
The handset maker said its device market share would remain flat in 2010 but said it plans to slightly increase its mobile device value market share over the next year.