MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen today cut his Q2 EPS estimate for Motorola Mobility (MMI) from 21 cents to 13 cents to account for a slip in the shipping of Moto?s ?Droid Bionic? smartphone for Verizon Communications (VZ) from what he thought would be an ?early April? introduction to what now looks like will be a late May debut for the phone.
Kuittinen reiterated a Buy recommendation on Moto, while cutting his price target to $35 from $40.
Kuittinen now models 400,000 fewer Android phones sold by Moto at Verizon in Q2, and a Q2 ASP for Moto?s phones of $225, down from $235. Part of that is the rise in component prices thanks to supply chain issues stemming from Japan?s crisis, he writes. Kuittinen also cut his fully 2011 EPS number to 82 cents from $1.14.
?Based on our discussions with operator and retail sources following the publication of a purported Verizon spring handset road map and a separate April handset price sheet on Thursday, we now believe it is likely that the Bionic has hit a last-minute testing snag,? writes Kuittinen. He notes that, ?The phone is complex, because unlike the early LTE models of HTC, Samsung and LG, it combines dual-core processor technology with 4G network technology.?
Kuittinen notes that rumors had flown last week about such a delay, rumors that were difficult to believe given how such things can be rampant. ?Misleading delay speculation had floated around about Atrix, iPad 2 and Thunderbolt, and verifying phone scheduling timelines is difficult due to tight security surrounding handset launch plans.?