Ericsson Turns To Q3 Profit, Sees Signs Of Stabilizing Market; Stock Climbs

(RTTNews) - Shares of LM Ericsson were gaining more than 8 percent in the early morning trading in Stockholm as well as in pre-market activity on the Nasdaq after the Swedish telecom major reported a profit in its third quarter, compared to prior year's loss, even as sales declined.

Looking ahead, Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, said, "We see increasing customer momentum around programmable networks that deliver differentiated performance... We see signs that the overall market is stabilizing with North America, as an early adopter market, returning to growth... We expect our Networks sales to stabilize year-on-year during Q4, driven by continued good growth in North America. However, we anticipate further near-term sales pressure in Enterprise as we focus on profitable segments."

In its third quarter, net income was 3.88 billion Swedish kronor, compared to last year's net loss of 30.49 billion kronor. Earnings per share were 1.14 kronor, compared to loss per share of 9.21 kronor a year ago.

The prior year's profit was hurt by the impairment charge of 31.9 billion kronor, excluding which net profit would have been 1.4 billion kronor.

Sequentially, the result improved significantly from net loss of 11 billion kronor in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the company's earnings before interest and tax or EBIT increased to 5.77 billion kronor from last year's loss of 28.91 billion kronor. EBIT margin improved to 9.3 percent from prior year's negative 44.8 percent.

Adjusted EBIT excluding impairments climbed 88 percent from last year to 7.33 billion kronor, and adjusted EBIT margin grew to 11.9 percent from 6.0 percent a year ago.

Adjusted EBITA, a key earnings metric, was 7.76 billion kronor, up 64 percent from 4.72 billion kronor in the prior year. Adjusted EBITA margin improved to 12.6 percent from last year's 7.3 percent, benefiting from higher gross income and cost reduction actions, partly offset by targeted investments in R&D.

Adjusted gross margin increased to 46.3 percent from last year's 39.2 percent, driven primarily by improved gross margin in Networks.

Sales for the quarter, meanwhile, fell 4 percent to 61.79 billion kronor from 64.47 billion kronor last year. Organic sales declined 1 percent, with strong growth in market area North America of 55 percent offset by declines in most other market areas.

Sequentially, sales grew 3 percent from 59.8 billion kronor recorded in the preceding second quarter.

In the quarter, both Networks as well as Cloud Software and Services reported a 1 percent organic decrease. In Networks, strong growth in market area North America was offset by lower customer investment levels in other markets.

Sales in segment Enterprise declined 3 percent organically due to lower sales in Global Communications Platform.

In pre-market activity on the Nasdaq, Ericsson shares were gaining around 8.49 percent to trade at $8.18.

In Stockholm, Ericsson shares were trading at 84.84 kronor, up 8.32 percent.

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