Investor Bullish On Motorola, Comeback In The Works?

Oppenheimer analyst Ittai Kidron recently said in a note to clients that Motorola may warrant another look. Why? It is bound to have a spectacular second half of the year. Has Motorola finally hit bottom? Is it finally on track for a rebound? So says Kidron.Motorola's stock price is sitting at about $3 per share, its lowest in ages. It has cut staffing levels by some 7,000 people in the last six months. The company hasn't had an honest hit device in what feels like forever. In sum, things couldn't look bleaker.

That's not stopping Oppenheimer's Kidron from being bullish on Motorola's future. He said, "With sentiment at an all-time low and investors' attention lost, we believe Motorola warrants another look. Given limited downside to the stock, we're bullish on Motorola." In order words, things can't get much worse than they already are, so why not scoop up some stock on the cheap and watch your investment grow?

What reasoning does Kidron use to back this up? Kidron says that Motorola may launch as many as 10 new smartphones during the second half of the year. This does not gel with what I've heard from internal Motorola sources, which informed me that Motorola won't be bringing any new Windows Mobile-based devices to market this year. If not Windows Mobile, what could Motorola have up its sleeve? Android handsets, perhaps.

We know that Motorola is working furiously on Android-based devices, and has a team toiling on bringing Android phones to market. The cell phone maker has not given any indication, however, of when that may be.

Motorola is definitely off to a slow start in 2009. It has barely brought any new devices to market, and pretty much sat out CES and Mobile World Congress, two opportunities that Motorola has taken advantage of in the past to introduce new models.

It is entirely possible that Motorola is holding off on new product launches until is has some winners in its hand.

Perhaps Kidron knows something we don't. In any event, he's right that Motorola's current state can't worsen too much further. In fact, Motorola's shares began trading higher yesterday on the news that Kidron recommended it.