Nokia's stock hits 16 year low after report of Lumia 900 problems and Q1 earnings

In a stark contrast to Apple's ever-rising stock, Nokia's equity is taking a hit on Wednesday to a 16 year low. This morning, Nokia's common stock was trading at $4.38 on the NYSE for a drop of almost 13%. The Finnish-based handset manufacturer is being assaulted on three sides. First, the $100 rebate it is giving buyers of the Nokia Lumia 900 through April 21st essentially makes the flagship model free. As we told you, a software problem has been discovered on the model which prevents users from connecting to the internet. Nokia will roll out a fix on April 16th and those who purchased the phone can install the new software or swap their unit for a new one.

Also affecting the stock is Nokia's Q1 earnings report which we reported to you earlier today. The report contained a warning about margins for the next quarter which is leading stockholders to sell their Nokia shares. Finally, a bearish story about Nokia on the Wall Street Journal's widely read online site could be catching the eye of investors.

The WSJ piece notes that the problems that Nokia is having on the high-end trying to compete with Apple and Android models is being repeated in its low-end markets in India, the Middle East, Africa and China. The financial paper notes that low priced featurephones for those regions have been Nokia's "bread and butter" and cheap Android models from ZTE and Huawei are taking that low hanging fruit away from the Finnish company. Gartner's industry analyst Roberta Cozza saud, "We’re seeing that many consumers on emerging markets are shifting towards low-end true smartphones, rather than feature phones, and Nokia doesn’t have much to offer in this space."

The WSJ story ends with the ominous thought that Nokia will need to compete against iOS and Android with cheaper Windows Phone models, in "a quicker pace" than anticipated.

source: WSJ