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Nokia hit by downgrade
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January 21, 2002: 2:01 p.m. ET
Shares in mobile phone giant fall 6 percent after downgrade
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LONDON (CNN) - Nokia shares fell more than 6 percent in European trade Monday after an investment bank downgraded the company ahead of its fourth-quarter results this week.
Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on the world's largest mobile phone maker to "underperform" from "neutral" and set a price target of  15 for its stock.
The investment bank said it downgraded Nokia because of concerns about the health of the global industry and reduced its 2002 growth forecast by 6 percent. In particular, Morgan Stanley said it anticipated negative growth in the huge Chinese telecom market this year.
"We continue to struggle to find attractive valuations in the sector, and, in contrast to last October, we feel short term drivers are turning negative rather than positive," Morgan Stanley said in a research note.
Finland's Nokia (NOK: Research, Estimates) - along with its key rivals Sweden's Ericsson (ERICY: down $0.15 to $4.81, Research, Estimates) and U.S.-based Motorola (MOT: unchanged at $14.25, Research, Estimates) - has been hit by the global economic slowdown and weak demand for telecom equipment.
Nokia will report its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, while Ericsson posts its quarterly earnings on Friday.
Europe's other top technology companies also report this week. Siemens, Germany's biggest engineering and telecoms company, comes out with its results on Wednesday.
Germany's SAP (SAP: down $0.91 to $35.39, Research, Estimates), Europe's largest business software company, also reports on Wednesday. 
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