The U.S.-listed shares of Ericsson
ERIC,
ERIC.B,
sank 4.4% toward a 10-week low in premarket trading Friday, after the Sweden-based telecommunications equipment and services company reported lower than expected earnings, and said macroeconomic headwinds are expected to continue at least through the first half of 2023. Among Ericsson’s rivals, shares of Finland-based Nokia Corp.
NOK,
NOKIA,
fell 1.5% ahead of Friday’s open and California-based Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
component Cisco Systems Inc.
CSCO,
slipped less than 0.1%. The company said overnight that net income fell to SEK6.2 billion ($600.9 million) from SEK10.1 billion, while sales rose 21% to SEK86.0 billion ($8.34 billion). The company said it expects customers to keep shedding assets in response to slowing economies, and to reduce inventory as supply-chain constraints ease. “These trends started to impact Networks in Q4 and we expect them to continue at least during the first half of 2023,” said Chief Executive Börje Ekholm. Ericsson’s stock has rallied 9.2% over the past three months through Thursday, while the Communications Services Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund has tacked on 3.3% and the Dow has advanced 8.9%.
