NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Broadcom Corp <BRCM.O> on Wednesday posted a quarterly profit versus a year-ago loss and revenue that beat Wall Street expectations, citing a better-than-expected holiday season and strong demand in Asia.

The stock rose 1.8 percent after Broadcom said it would start paying a dividend of 8 cents per share as of March 8 and forecast that first-quarter revenue would be better than usual for this time of year.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said the revenue and dividend cheered investors who have been leery of chip stocks in recent weeks on concerns about peaking demand for semiconductors.

“These are all good things,” said Rasgon.

NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Leap Wireless International Inc <LEAP.O> has hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise the low-cost mobile service provider on a possible sale, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Leap has reached out to potential buyers in recent days, including MetroPCS Communications Inc <PCS.N>, AT&T Inc <T.N> and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc <VZ.N> and Vodafone Group Plc <VOD.L>, one of the sources said on Monday.

Shares of Leap rose 13.1 percent in heavy trading to $14.92, while MetroPCS shares rose 5.33 percent to $5.93 after the news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Leap, AT&T and MetroPCS declined to comment. Verizon was not immediately available for comment.

HELSINKI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nokia and Motorola Inc are regaining some market share in smartphones but while Nokia has profited from the gains, Motorola predicted a loss in the current quarter.

Shares in top phone maker Nokia posted their biggest one-day gain in nine months on Thursday after it reported earnings that beat estimates, while Motorola shares fell more than 12 percent on worries its turnaround will take too long.

Finland’s Nokia and U.S.-based Motorola dominated the mobile industry just a few years ago, but they have lost ground to Apple’s iPhone and Blackberry-maker Research in Motion in the lucrative smartphone market.

Both firms have responded by shrinking their phone portfolios: Nokia has halved its smartphone launch plans for 2010, and Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha is betting his company’s future on smartphones based on Google Inc’s Android software.

HELSINKI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nokia and Motorola Inc are regaining some market share in smartphones but while Nokia has profited from the gains, Motorola predicted a loss in the current quarter.

Shares in top phone maker Nokia posted their biggest one-day gain in nine months on Thursday after it reported earnings that beat estimates, while Motorola shares fell more than 12 percent on worries its turnaround will take too long.

Finland’s Nokia and U.S.-based Motorola dominated the mobile industry just a few years ago, but they have lost ground to Apple’s iPhone and Blackberry-maker Research in Motion in the lucrative smartphone market.

Both firms have responded by shrinking their phone portfolios: Nokia has halved its smartphone launch plans for 2010, and Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha is betting his company’s future on smartphones based on Google Inc’s Android software.

HELSINKI/NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – New models from Nokia <NOK1V.HE> and Motorola Inc <MOT.N> helped them recapture market share in the lucrative smartphone sector, lifting both firms’ results above expectations for the fourth quarter.

Nokia and Motorola — who together dominated the mobile industry just a few years ago — have been hurt by Apple’s iPhone <AAPL.O> and Blackberry-maker Research in Motion <RIM.TO> eating a major share of this fatter margin business.

Both firms have responded by shrinking their phone portfolios: Nokia has halved its smartphone launch plans for 2010, and Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha is betting that Android smartphones will turn around the company.

Motorola turned to a small quarterly profit in the holiday sales-fuelled fourth quarter versus a deep loss a year earlier, helped by sales of 2 million smartphones in the quarter.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumers’ obsession with using smartphones to find restaurants, surf the web and navigate city streets helped propel a 26 percent rise in AT&T’s <T.N> quarterly profit — but at a cost for the operator.

The strain that wireless devices like smartphones and e-readers have placed on AT&T’s network is such that the company announced on Thursday it will increase capital spending by about $2 billion this year, targeting improvements in its wireless service.

The increase was unveiled as AT&T posted revenue and earnings that largely matched analysts’ estimates, although its addition of 2.7 million net subscribers in the fourth quarter was nearly 1 million more than expected.

Analysts did, however, point out that just 910,000 of those were the highly prized monthly bill-paying customers, compared with bigger rival Verizon Wireless’ addition of 1.15 million postpaid users.

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – U.S. consumers’ obsession with using smartphones to find restaurants, surf the web and navigate city streets helped propel a 26 percent rise in AT&T’s <T.N> quarterly profit — but at a cost for the operator.

The strain that wireless devices like smartphones and e-readers have placed on AT&T’s network is such that the company announced on Thursday it will increase capital spending by about $2 billion this year, targeting improvements in its wireless service.

The increase was unveiled as AT&T posted revenue and earnings that largely matched analysts’ estimates, although its addition of 2.7 million net subscribers in the fourth quarter was nearly 1 million more than expected.

Analysts did, however, point out that just 910,000 of those were the highly prized monthly bill-paying customers, compared with bigger rival Verizon Wireless’ addition of 1.15 million postpaid users.

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – AT&T <T.N> reported a 26 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit, fueled by wireless subscriber additions, particularly among users of e-readers, smartphones and netbook computers to the Web.

AT&T’s results reflect consumers’ willingness to pay to read newspapers online, find restaurants, text with friends or navigate city streets using mobile devices. AT&T added some 2.7 million net subscribers in the fourth quarter — nearly 1 million more than analysts predicted.

But analysts were not entirely impressed with the figure, saying they were surprised AT&T added just 910,000 of the highly prized monthly paying customers. Analysts had forecast a figure above 1 million.

Profit margins were also slimmer than some had expected, likely due to strong sales of Apple Inc’s <AAPL.O> iPhone. While AT&T’s exclusive right to sell iPhone has paid big dividends — it recorded 3.1 million iPhone activations in the quarter — it also has hurt profit margins since AT&T subsidizes the smartphone.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Motorola Inc <MOT.N> forecast a loss for the current quarter due to heavy spending to bring more smartphones to the market, disappointing investors who had expected the cellphone maker to post a profit.

The news drove Motorola shares down 9.5 percent, overshadowing the company’s report of stronger-than-expected smartphone sales in the fourth quarter, when it started selling phones based on Google Inc’s <GOOG.O> Android software.

Motorola forecast a first-quarter loss of 1 cent to 3 cents per share, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of a 3-cent profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha attributed the forecast to lower smartphone sales volumes due to typical seasonal trends in the first quarter, combined with heavy expenses to launch new smartphones.

NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Motorola Inc <MOT.N> forecast a loss for the current quarter due to heavy spending to bring more smartphones to the market, disappointing investors who had expected the cellphone maker to post a profit.

The news drove Motorola shares down 9.5 percent, overshadowing the company’s report of stronger-than-expected smartphone sales in the fourth quarter, when it started selling phones based on Google Inc’s <GOOG.O> Android software.

Motorola forecast a first-quarter loss of 1 cent to 3 cents per share, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of a 3-cent profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha attributed the forecast to lower smartphone sales volumes due to typical seasonal trends in the first quarter, combined with heavy expenses to launch new smartphones.