Nokia's American depositary receipts (ADRs) surged in intraday trading on Thursday following an announcement by the Finland-based telecom giant predicting a business revival in the latter half of the year. This optimism is shared by Swedish competitor Ericsson, who also predicted a sales recovery in the second half of the year earlier this week.
"We have observed a steady uptick in order intake, bolstering our confidence in a robust second half and the attainment of our full-year outlook," said Nokia's CEO Pekka Lundmark in the revenue statement.
Nokia anticipates its network infrastructure unit will witness growth in the second half of 2024, satisfying its full-year comparative operating profit forecast pegged between 2.30 billion euros ($2.45 billion) and 2.90 billion euros ($3.09 billion).
Despite better-than-expected first-quarter comparable diluted earnings per share (EPS) of EUR0.09, a 20% decrease in sales to EUR4.67 billion fell short of consensus estimates. The telecom company cited "exceptionally low levels of expenditure in North America and India" for a 37% drop in mobile network sales for the quarter.
As of 1 p.m. ET, Nokia's ADRs had increased by 2.9% to $3.42 and are steady for the year.