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Motorola, vendors gain; phones weak
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:03 AM ET Nov 2, 2009
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Motorola Inc.'s stock led a bevy of large telecommunications-equipment makers higher on Monday, but shares of big phone companies took a dip.
Motorola was upgraded to buy from hold by Citigroup just days before the company's new Droid phone is slated to go on sale. The Droid, an iPhone competitor, is the most highly anticipated Motorola phone in five years.
Shares of Motorola MOT gained 4% in recent action, to trade at $8.91.
Other vendors also forged higher. Alcatel-Lucent ALU climbed 3.5%, Ericsson ERIC rose 3% and Nokia Corp. NOK gained more than 2%.
Alcatel-Lucent was upgraded to hold from sell by RBS.
In the phone group, AT&T Inc. T, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ and Qwest Communications International Inc. Q all fell by a few pennies.
Most other phone stocks advanced, but increases were slight. The biggest gainer was Leap Wireless International Inc., a discount carrier whose stock added 3%.
Among key industry indexes, the Dow Jones U.S. Fixed Line Telecommunications Total Stock Market Index slid 0.1% to 907 points.
The index has ranged from a high of 1,029 points to a low of 747 points within the past 12 months.
The Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Equipment Total Stock Market Index moved up 1.1% at 5,353 points.
The equipment index has ranged from a high of 5,629 points to a low of 3,092 points in the past year.
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