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(La Jolla, CA) On Jan. 28, there are over 170 companies on the Q4 earnings calendar. In today’s article, we highlight two widely held names in the handset market, as well as a fast growing e-commerce company and a leading network device maker. Below, we have provided commentary on what is expected from these companies, and the factors that have been driving their results. For a more comprehensive technical analysis, we strongly urge readers to view our free trading reports on these stocks by simply clicking on the ticker symbols.

MOT and NOK Calling For Improved Results

The global economic slowdown has not been kind to cell phone makers Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK). This is especially true for beleaguered MOT. Over the past four quarters, its revenue has declined by 26% or more as it worked through its massive restructuring program. During this period, the company has essentially operated at a break-even basis.

The problem for MOT has been two-fold. First, the company fell so far behind the curve in terms of a viable smartphone product lineup that it became buried behind the competition. Instead of developing a new operating system in house, it opted to outsource this task to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) by adopting its Android platform. This decision may have been a turning point for MOT. In addition to the cost-cutting measures taken, adoption of MOT’s Droid has been strong. In fact, on Jan. 26, Droid carrier Verizon (NYSE: VZ) reported its Q4 results and stated that it added 1.2 million customers during the quarter – a good sign for MOT’s sales.

The second issue that crippled MOT was the recession. If people were buying a handset during the downturn, it likely wasn’t an outdated Razr. However, with the smartphone market showing meaningful improvement, in addition to MOT’s more popular product line, it looks to be in a much better position. This is reflected in the fourth quarter estimates, with the Street projecting EPS of $0.08 on revenue of $5.9 billion. Nokia hasn’t been making game-changing transformations like MOT, but its financial performance is also expected to vastly improve. Analysts are forecasting EPS of $0.28 compared to ($0.02) a year ago on revenue growth of 25% to $15.9 billion.

AMZN Hoping Strong Holiday Sales Can Restore Momentum

After soaring ~130% from March ‘09 to December, shares of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) have lost steam, shedding $20/share over the past few weeks. The main issues that have been dogging the stock were the ultra-high expectations, coupled with a rich valuation. Even following this sharp sell-off, the stock is priced at a premium with a 1-year forward P/E of 46x. In regards to its Q4 expectations, many people are anticipating strong numbers based on robust holiday sales – especially for its e-reader, Kindle. AMZN has an exceptional recent history of outperforming relative to consensus estimates, reporting EPS in-line or better in each of the past eight quarters. It has also been one of the most impressive large-cap performers in terms of sales growth (+28% last quarter). The question is, how much of that is priced in already? The generally sentiment is, AMZN will need to easily surpass consensus estimates to regain that upward momentum. For traders interested in entering an AMZN trade prior to earnings, we suggest reviewing our free trading report first.

Enterprise Spending Pickup A Positive For JNPR

While IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) don’t compete against Juniper (Nasdaq: JNPR), both companies cited stronger than expected enterprise spending as a catalyst for their upside results. This bodes well for the networking device maker, which derives a large portion of its sales from communication companies such as AT&T (NYSE: T). Leaner inventories and tighter demand are two other positive factors in JNPR’s favor. The company will need to report earnings of $0.26/share on revenue of $884.8 million to meet the Street’s expectations. Shares are currently resting on support at the $25 level and have traded in a tight $3 range over the past several months. For a more detailed technical analysis on JNPR, please click here.

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