Key Highlights
- Nokia shares jumped approximately 6% Friday, building on a 113% year-to-date rally
- First-quarter revenue increased 4% year-over-year, while AI and cloud client revenue surged 49%
- Arete Research lifted rating from neutral to buy; Morgan Stanley maintains overweight stance
- Company finalized deal to move Fixed Wireless Access operations to Inseego while keeping equity stake
- Jim Cramer praised Nokia as “a winner,” highlighting its technological resurgence
Nokia (NOK) shares advanced nearly 6% during Friday’s trading session, reaching approximately $13.65, propelled by impressive first-quarter performance, favorable analyst revisions, and growing artificial intelligence tailwinds.
This latest surge continues an extraordinary rally. The stock has skyrocketed more than 113% since the start of the year and has posted gains exceeding 155% over the trailing twelve months.
Trading activity reflected heightened investor interest. Approximately 68.96 million shares traded hands Friday, surpassing the three-month daily average of roughly 65.97 million shares.
Nokia’s first-quarter financial performance delivered multiple catalysts for bulls. Total net sales advanced 4% compared to the prior year, while the Optical Networks division recorded a robust 20% gain.
The headline figure came from AI and cloud customer revenue, which exploded 49% higher. Company executives attributed this growth to accelerating capital deployment from hyperscale data center operators and expanding enterprise artificial intelligence workloads.
The Finnish telecommunications equipment maker has also disclosed approximately €1 billion in AI-related contract wins, strengthening the investment thesis among Wall Street analysts tracking the company.
Wall Street Turns More Bullish
Arete Research elevated Nokia from neutral to buy Thursday, triggering a 3.6% share price increase that day with an intraday peak of $12.92. Trading volume spiked 122% above the typical daily level following the upgrade announcement.
Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its overweight recommendation earlier this week. Nordea Equity Research similarly raised its rating to buy on April 24th.
Currently, Nokia enjoys buy recommendations from 12 Wall Street analysts, with four holding neutral positions and two maintaining sell ratings. The consensus rating stands at Moderate Buy, although the mean price target of $9.71 remains substantially below current trading levels.
Citigroup represents the most bearish voice, continuing to hold its sell rating first issued in January.
Strategic Moves in AI and the Inseego Transaction
Nokia finalized an agreement to divest its Fixed Wireless Access CPE business unit to Inseego. Under the arrangement, Nokia will obtain an ownership position in Inseego while both organizations collaborate on 6G development, wireless edge computing initiatives, and AI-powered connectivity solutions.
Inseego hosted an investor conference call this week detailing the transaction structure, the partnership framework, and strategic objectives going forward.
This divestiture enables Nokia to exit a lower-margin hardware category while maintaining economic participation in the FWA sector through its Inseego equity position.
Jim Cramer offered his endorsement Friday, describing Nokia as “a winner” during his broadcast. He remarked, “I gotta hand it to those guys for sticking around because, wow, I think it’s got a lot of good technology.”
Nokia also announced an increased quarterly dividend of $0.0468, up from the previous $0.04, translating to an annualized yield near 1.5%. The payment is scheduled for May 12th for shareholders of record as of April 28th.
One caution signal deserves attention: the trailing price-to-earnings multiple hovers around 80, creating vulnerability should the company stumble on operational execution or earnings delivery. Wall Street forecasts full-year earnings per share of $0.41.
Nokia’s market capitalization currently stands near $74 billion. The 50-day moving average rests at $8.83 while the 200-day average sits at $7.32, both significantly below today’s price level.
