Motorola estimates $3.4 billion in sales, 5.3 million smartphones shipped in Q4

Motorola Mobility released a preliminary estimate of its fourth quarter 2011 performance this afternoon, and it seems that the company performed below expectations. Added to that, Motorola says that it only expects "modest profitability" on its revenues - not exactly a comforting sign for shareholders.

Motorola estimates that it shipped 10.5 million devices in the holiday quarter, with 5.3 million of those being smartphones. It says that it expects to report revenues of $3.4 billion on those shipments. Shipments are lower than the 11.3 million reported in Q4 2010, though the mix includes more smartphones now than last year (5.3 million verses 4.9 million). Revenues are just about the same year-over-year. Wall Street analysts had predicted that Motorola would earn $3.9 billion in revenue for the quarter.

Compared to Q3 2011, total shipments were down, but again, smartphone shipments were up. Motorola reported $3.3 billion in revenue for Q3.

The company says that "fourth-quarter results were impacted by the increased competitive environment in the Mobile Device business and higher legal costs associated with ongoing Intellectual Property (IP) litigations." Motorola is currently embroiled in lawsuits with a number of companies, the most notable of which are Apple and Microsoft. The smartphone maker notes that it is still working with Google to complete the proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility announced in August.

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