Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK)’s stock is continuing to rise. Despite the iPhone 5’s debut, Nokia shares are up 18% in the past 5 days
On Thursday morning, it was reported that Nokia started seeking buyers for their business support system. The company’s chief executive officer explained that their company is seeing some real interest in the unit and they hope this means a good sale.
Apple’s launch did affect the stock of Nokia, but not as badly as many thought it would. Bloomberg predicts that Apple will sell 58 million handsets by the end of 2012. Nokia, which once led the cell phone industry, until Apple introduced their first iPhone in 2007, is failing to keep up with the tough competition from popular smartphones. Their market value is about sixty times smaller than Apple’s.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) also faces brutal competition from Google’s Android-based phones. Nokia is currently working with Microsoft to create and sell Windows-based smartphones, but apparently they’re not selling as well as they would like.
The infamous Danske Bank A/S (CPH:DANSKE) (PINK:DNSKY) sent a note to their clients today, claiming that Nokia will most likely have relatively low fourth-quarter shipments of their Windows 8 smartphones. It’s also speculated that the scarcity of Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) chips, which are used in some models, may slow down the sales. Danske suggested their 1.2o euro a year target price on the stocks to clients.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) currently has 23 sell recommendations, 15 holds, and 10 buys. The estimates come from a report surveyed by Bloomberg.
Perhaps Nokia has a few tricks up their sleeve and this business support systems unit could be just the ticket! There really is no telling what’s next for this once-thriving company. At the very least, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) could and should look for potential buyers to save their company before it’s too late.
