Motorola reports third quarter sales and earnings

Motorola reported net earnings of $1.75 billion ($0.69 per share) on sales of $9.4 billion for the third quarter of 2005 compared with $479 million ($0.20) on sales of $7.5 billion for the third quarter of last year. Net earnings for the first nine months of 2005 amounted to nearly $3.38 billion ($1.34 per share) on sales of $26.4 billion compared with $886 million ($0.37) on sales of $22.48 billion.

The company's outlook for the fourth quarter of 2005 is for sales between $10.3 billion and $10.5 billion and earnings per share from continuing operations in the range of $0.32 to $0.34.

During the third quarter Motorola announced more than $1 billion in new lifetime sales awards across the automotive business, including a multiyear award to provide the next-generation telematics unit for General Motors’ OnStar solution.