Motorola Gains On Reports That Its Mobile-Device Sale Is Back On

Oppenheimer’s Ittai Kidron speculated on Friday that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) was actively looking to sell its struggling mobile devices unit — after putting the sale on hold when the economy went sour. Following the report, Motorola’s shares jumped 10 percent, and today, the gains mostly stayed intact. The company’s stock fell about 5 percent to $5.24 a share.

Reuters reported that in the widely distributed report, Kidron wrote: “We also believe management could revisit the planning process for the mobile device spin-off in the near future, which would signal growing confidence in the upcoming portfolio and raise the likelihood of unlocking the unit’s value.” Back in March, Kidrom was responsible for another spike in Motorola’s stock price, when he said he was bullish because Motorola had been cutting costs faster than expected and was planning a smartphone-selling spree for the second half of this year.

Motorola spokesman Rusty Brashear declined to tell Reuters when any such transaction may occur, but added: “I can understand why people speculate on that because it’s still our strategic intent to do that. Even though we greatly slowed the process we never stopped it.” Originally, the spin-off was slated for the third quarter, but then was put on hold for at least the remainder of the year. Separately, in March<a href="http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-has-motorola-fallen-far-enough-to-interest-private-equity&quot; title=" it was reported that at least two private equity firms had started sniffing around the company

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