NOK: Nokia: Telecom Giant of the Future

Nokia Corporation manufactures mobile devices, and provides Internet services and digital map information worldwide. Now that you know what they do let me tell you why they are great at what they do. Nokia is currently the largest personal communication equipment provider in the world. One of the key reasons for this is their production of ultra-low cost mobile devices for low income areas of the world. They are able to produce very cheap cell phones for emerging markets such as India and Africa. These emerging markets are gold mines for Nokia, because although their leading competitor Motorola (MOT) is able to match Nokia's production in the US, they are unable to produce the low cost cell phones for third world countries. This untapped market is going to continue to grow and be the foundation for Nokia's continued growth and dominance in the global telecommunication equipment sector. Now that the general idea is laid out let met hit you with some numbers. Nokia currently has about $2.4 billion dollars in cash...straight cash. This allows them to keep options open about acquiring new products and companies in order to maintain their goal of being on the cutting edge of cell phone technology. At the end of last year, Nokia also pulled in a combined $24.5 billion gross profit, with a revenue of $71.48 billion. This is slightly lower than the previous year simply due to the contracting global economy. However, it continues to outperform the S&P 500 in the long run. Since 1995, Nokia shares are up 500% while the S&P is only up 50%. The recent peak for Nokia before this global recession hit had Nokia up 1500% vs. the S&P 300%. Beyond its growth, Nokia also has a dividend yield of 3.30% giving out $0.52 per share annually.