Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK): What To Expect on the EPS and Rev. Side

Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is one of those tech companies that is likely facing perhaps the most important quarterly earnings report in the company’s history when the reveal is made before the bell Thursday morning. Of course, the same may be said of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the wake of its dramatic stock drop Wednesday just days before it announces its quarterly earnings. But while Apple is nowhere close to extinction, Nokia certainly was close to that at this time last year.

Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) launched its new flagship handset, the Lumia, and the new partnership with the Windows Phone operating system by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter of 2012, banking the company’s future on this complete redo of handsets with the dismissal of the native Symbian OS in favor of the Windows 8 platform. It was hard to get a read on Nokia with the last quarterly report because of the handsets being launched already a month into the quarter and it not hitting worldwide distribution until late in the period. Therefore, this report will likely be the first real snapshot of Nokia’s comeback attempt and the success of Microsoft in the smartphone space, by extension.

It wasn’t long ago that Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) was the standard-bearer in the handset market, serving as the dominant handset all over the world. While the company is still a market leader in several countries and still has a solid following in others, it fell flat in major markets like the U.S. once Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) came out with the iPhone in 2007.

Image: Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)

Since then, Nokia has flailed and never could really maintain its relevance in the powerful and influential U.S. market. With the Lumia line of handsets now rolled out – the mid- to -low-range 720, 620 and 520 recently hitting shelves just in the last couple of weeks – led by the premium 920 and 820 models and a lot of positive buzz around the handsets to go along with souring sentiment on Apple, this report Thursday morning could very well determine if Nokia’s comeback just might have some legs, or whether CEO Stephen Elop might see his days numbered at the head of the conference table.

What are your thoughts about Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)? Do you have optimistic thoughts or feelings about the company? What do you think the earnings report will say, and how would it affect your perspective on the stock? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below (data via Bloomberg).

For a look at what Wall Street is expecting of Nokia, continue reading: