Nokia Needs Stronger Sales Staff To Push Lumia Phones: Canaccord

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After hosting investor meetings with Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK)’s CFO, Canaccord Genuity reports mixed news on the smart phone maker. Analysts from the financial firm say they feel that management at Nokia is executing a number of cost-cutting initiatives and is also improving visibility of its smart phones and NSN divisions in the market. However, they do believe that there are still challenges for the smart device developer, especially in the area of visibility for its devices.

Nokia Needs Stronger Sales Staff To Push Lumia Phones: Canaccord

Nokia’s new Lumia WP8 smartphones are entering into an extremely competitive market, and so far, there has been limited demand for Windows phones. Although Canaccord Genuity analysts are impressed with Nokia’s new Lumia WP8 models, they are holding their modest sales expectations for the phones, because they believe that next year will be another transitional year for Nokia. Analysts at the investment firm are maintaining their HOLD rating and $3 PT.

Experts at the investment firm have tried the Lumia 920 model and found its hardware to be good and its UI to be easy to use. They also believe that the model’s PureView camera could set it apart from other smartphones. In addition, they believe that the 920 is competitively priced against the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S III, and the LTE smartphone by AT&T, which was just launched today. However, according to the report, demand for Windows phones is very limited, and they expect this trend to continue.

Officials at Canaccord Genuity believe that if Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) can equip a hard-hitting sales staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to convince consumers to buy the Lumia over the iPhone 5 or Android phones, then steady sales growth is possible. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) management has indicated that they have more than 40,000 sales representatives trained to sell their new Lumia phones.

Analysts also say that they feel demand is still strong through the end of 2012 for Nokia’s feature phones, like the Asha 311. The Asha line has helped the mobile phone maker deliver stronger than expected sales in the third quarter. However they also believe that sales of feature phones will decline each year.

Meanwhile Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) and Siemens is showing strong execution and record third quarter profits, and analysts believe that it’s still on track to meet its long term 5 to 10 percent operating margin targets.

Although Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) has successfully executed cost-cutting measures, analysts at Canaccord Genuity believe that additional cuts are needed because of their cautiousness about sales for Windows smartphones. They also expect that the Devices and Services division will post operating losses during the fourth quarter and most of next year.

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