Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) shares rallied in pre-market trades at the New York Stock Exchange, erasing Monday’s 3 percent loss. Meanwhile analysts at Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) (ETR:DBK) have nudged their target price on the stock upward just slightly, although they have maintained their Sell rating on the stock.
The analysts said they nudged their price target from €1.50 to €1.80 for shares of Nokia after industry meetings indicated a brighter outlook for the smartphone market. However they continue to be concerned about increasing pressure from new smartphones launching in the second quarter of the year.
They point out that a number of competitive Android smartphones will be arriving in the second quarter. Companies like Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) and HTC Corp (TPE:2498) will both be launching new smartphones. Research In Motion Ltd. (NYSE:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s new BlackBerry devices are likely to increase the pressure on Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V)’s market share, pricing and margins.
Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) (ETR:DBK) analysts believe shipments of Nokia’s Lumia handsets will peak in the short term during the first quarter of this year and then drop off in the second quarter. Their biggest concerns about Nokia right now are the company’s “very high exposure” to the “declining mobile phone segment,” which would be the high end smartphones.
However Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) did unveil some lower priced handsets at this year’s Mobile World Congress. CEO Stephen Elop also hasn’t discounted rumors that the company could release an even lower priced handset sometime this year.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank did address Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V)’s two new phones, and they believe the Lumia 105 could do well in emerging markets, the 301 could be “a tougher sell” because Android price points on similar devices are slightly lower. They also expressed concerns about cannibalization risks from the Lumia 720 for the higher priced 920.
