Nokia’s situation may not be quite as “dire” as initially anticipated according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue. Despite Nokia’s rough second-quarter earnings, which were called “clearly disappointing” by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Sue sees Nokia in a better position than most. In a note to investors on Friday, the analyst reiterated his Outperform rating on Nokia stock and set a price target of $9. Sue increased his third-quarter unit shipment estimate to 100 million devices from his earlier estimate of 89 million, noting that sales of Nokia’s Symbian devices will likely not drop off as rapidly as had been expected. ”Nokia may be seeing better trends for its dual-SIM devices and less of a decline in its traditional Symbian devices than originally expected,” Sue wrote. “Feedback on Nokia’s new Windows device may be encouraging and we expect Nokia to launch on schedule before the holiday season.” The analyst expects Nokia to announce its first Windows Phone handset, which he says will be based on the N9, at its annual Nokia World show in late October.
