Nokia Surprise a Pleasant One to Hundreds of Funds

On Thursday, Nokia (NOK) rewarded investors who stayed the course with either their shares of the globe's number-one wireless-phone maker, or with the mutual funds that have owned the stock since it lost more than a fourth of its value on July 27. Back then, the Finnish company said the roll out of new products might trim its margins a bit in the third quarter sending large and small investors for exits--even though Nokia Chief Executive Jorma Ollila said the company continued to gobble more market share from competitors.

Early Thursday, three months and a 46% decline in stock price later, Nokia made a strong case for its continued wireless-industry dominance. Ollila, in a surprise earnings announcement, said margins had narrowed from about 24% to an industry leading 19.5%, but pretax profit had increased 43%. Ollila promised a record fourth quarter too. The company's stock responded by rising nearly 26% Thursday.