Nokia Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates on Healthy Top-Line Growth

Nokia Corporation NOK reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter 2025 results, with both top and bottom lines beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company's top line increased year over year, primarily owing to growth in optical networks in the Network Infrastructure segment.

NOK’s Net Income

Nokia reported a net income of €544 million ($633.2 million) or an income of €0.10 (11 cents) per share in the fourth quarter compared with €813 million or €0.15 in the year-ago quarter. Higher operating expenses impacted profits.

Comparable profit was €882 million ($1.02 billion) or €0.16 (19 cents) per share, down from €977 million or €0.18 in the year-earlier quarter. The bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 17 cents.

For 2025, the company reported a net income of €660 million or €0.12 per share, down from €1,284 million or €0.23 in 2024. Comparable profit was €1,595 million or €0.29 per share, down from €2,175 million or €0.39 in 2024.

NOK’s Revenues

Quarterly net sales were €6.13 billion ($7.13 billion), up 2% from €5.98 billion in the year-ago quarter. Despite weakness in Cloud and Network Services, Nokia Technologies’ growth in Network Infrastructure supported the top line. Revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.99 billion.

For 2025, the company reported revenues of €19.88 billion, up 3% year over year.

Net sales from Network Infrastructure totaled €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion), up from €2.03 billion in the year-ago quarter. At cc, IP Networks recorded 3% growth year over year, owing to strength in North America, the Middle East and Africa, with healthy demand from AI and cloud customers. Revenues from Optical Networks improved 17% year over year on a cc basis, backed by healthy traction in the North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa region. Net sales in Fixed Networks remained flat year over year, due to growing fiber and fixed wireless access deployments. Strength in North America and India was offset by weakness in Latin America and some regions in APAC.

Mobile Networks generated revenues of €2.5 billion ($2.912 billion), down 2% year over year on a reported basis, while up 6% on a cc basis. Strength in the Middle East, Africa and the APAC region supported the net sales growth.

Net sales from Cloud and Network Services were €837 million ($974.28 million), down 11% year over year on a reported basis and 4% on a cc basis. Decline in Core Networks primarily impeded the top line in this segment.

Nokia Technologies contributed €384 million ($446.9 million) compared with €463 million in the year-ago quarter. Net sales were down 14% at cc.

Region-wise, net sales from the EMEA region increased to €2.532 billion from €2.431 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Healthy traction in Network Infrastructure and Mobile Networks boosted net sales in this region. Revenues in the APAC region declined to €1.38 billion, flat year over year. Growth in Mobile Networks and Cloud and Network Services was affected by weakness in the Network Infrastructure.

Americas witnessed 3% growth at cc to €2.21 billion. Strong growth in the Network Infrastructure segment boosted net sales.

NOK’s Other Details

In the December quarter, the comparable gross margin was 48.1%, up from 47.2% in the year-ago quarter. The comparable operating profit decreased 3% year over year to €1.05 billion ($1.23 billion). Comparable operating margin declined to 17.3% from 18.2%.

NOK’s Cash Flow & Liquidity

In the December quarter, Nokia generated €373 million ($434 million) net cash from operating activities compared with €209 million in the prior-year quarter. In 2025, the company generated €2.07 billion in cash from operating activities compared with €2.49 billion in cash from operations.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company had €5.46 billion ($6.41 billion) in cash and cash equivalents and long-term interest-bearing liabilities of €2.32 billion ($2.73 billion) with respective tallies of €4.89 billion and €2.34 billion at the end of 2024.

Outlook of NOK

For 2026, Nokia expects a comparable operating profit in the range of €2-€2.5 billion. Free cash flow is estimated at 55-75% of comparable operating profit. Capital expenditure is estimated to be in the range of €900-€1000 million. In 2026, the company expects 6-8% sales growth in the Network Infrastructure segment.

NOK’s Zacks Rank

NOK currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Upcoming Releases

Arista Networks Inc. ANET is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2025 earnings on Feb. 12. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 75 cents per share, implying growth of 15.38% from the year-ago reported figure.

Arista has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 20.08%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 10.17% in the last four reported quarters.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. AKAM is slated to release fourth-quarter 2025 earnings on Feb. 19. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.75 per share, indicating 5.4% growth from the year-ago reported figure.

Akamai has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 5.96%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 10.46% in the last four reported quarters.

Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI is set to release fourth-quarter 2025 earnings on Feb. 12. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $4.36 per share, implying growth of 7.92% from the year-ago reported figure.

Motorola has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 9.07%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 5.5% in the last four reported quarters.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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