No recommendation
No news or research item is a personal recommendation to deal. Hargreaves Lansdown may not share ShareCast's (powered by Digital Look) views.
(Sharecast News) - Shares in Nokia sparked on Thursday, after the telecoms giant posted above-forecast third-quarter numbers.
Net sales at the Finnish firm jumped 12% in the three months to 4.83bn, or by 9% on a constant currency basis. Analysts had been expecting quarterly sales closer to 4.6bn.
The growth was driven by a strong performance in network infrastructure, which posted a 11% spike in sales, and cloud and network services, up 13%.
Nokia's core business remains mobile networks. However, it has been investing heavily into artificial intelligence, including the $2.3bn acquisition of US optical networking firm Infinera, which it completed earlier this year.
Group operating profits fell 10% on a comparable basis, to 435m.
Profits were dented by Nokia changing how it presents gains and losses from venture fund investments, as well as wider headwinds, including US tariffs and a weaker dollar, and higher costs.
However, analysts had expected a far steeper decline, to 342m.
As at 1015 BST, shares in Nokia were trading 8% higher.
Justin Hotard, chief executive, said: "We delivered a solid performance in the third quarter.
"The AI super-cycle is accelerating demand for providers of advanced and trusted connectively. Nokia is uniquely positioned to be a leader in this market."
Looking to the full year, Hotard confirmed Nokia was on course to meet guidance.
Currently forecasting annual comparable operating profits between 1.7bn to 2.2bn, Hotard said Nokia was tracking towards the midpoint of that range.
Jefferies, which has a 'hold' rating on the stock, said: "Nokia reported sales...6% ahead of our forecast.
"These results increasingly demonstrate that Nokia is becoming a beneficiary of AI data centre investments."