Motorola finally gets cool after the RAZR

Motorola Mobility recently released Q1 2011 results, and noted that a higher smartphone mix is bolstering average mobile phone pricing.

The smartphone mix increased to 44% in Q1 2011 compared to 27% in the same quarter last year, and average mobile phone pricing accordingly jumped to $229 from $193 last year. ^[1]

This is a notable positive for Motorola Mobility, as the company has been consistently losing market share to rivals Apple, Research in Motion and Nokia in the mobile phone market.

We currently maintain $24.59 price estimate for Motorola Mobility stock, roughly in line with market price.

Pricing Improvement for Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility launched two new smartphones in the last quarter, bringing the total smartphone launches to 27 to date. ^[2] The most notable smartphone launch in the last quarter was the Atrix 4G, which features a faster processor in addition to increased higher memory and storage capacity (see Does Atrix 4G Signify Turnaround for Motorola Mobility Fortunes?).

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The bulls used their lifeline this morning on Who Wants to be a Millionaire as they called up the Labor Department and asked them for a favor.  The question of the week came down to the nonfarm payroll numbers and the bulls were looking for an answer north of 200,000.  They got it after hearing corporate America went on the biggest hiring spree in five years.

In a pleasant surprise, the Labor Department reported that the private sector added 268,000 jobs for the month while at the same time we got some of the zombies off the government’s payroll.  Overall, the economy added a total of 244,000 jobs last month, which was well ahead of estimates for 185,000 jobs that analysts had predicted.  Eve

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Markets finish week on strong note with gains. European markets began to go into a panic in the afternoon, after Greece announced their considering dropping the euro. In domestic news, the non-farm payroll reports, expected to be weak, turned out to be very strong. Private industries are adding jobs at a fast pace. In corporate news, Warner Music Group (WMG) is being purchase by private firm Access Industries.

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Stocks have fallen sharply Wednesday, after weak manufacturing data from the Institute for Supply Management and a bailout package for Portugal set a tone for the day that reined in gains from a series of strong earnings reports. S&P 500 had its third straight day of declines yesterday, and today it is down 0.6% half an hour before the closing bell.

A first quarter report this week from First Solar, the largest solar energy company in the world, sent shares in the stock down 6.4% Wednesday. This was a curious reaction to the companys results, which beat the streets expectations on both the profit and revenue count, however it is also nothing the company hasn’t seen before. T

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