Motorola Hits 5-Year Low; Piper Cuts Rating to Sell; Deutsche Bank Slashes Outlook for ’08 Handsets

Thing just keep getting worse for Motorola (MOT). Battered today by negative notes from several analysts, the stock is headed for its lowest close in 5 years. And it isn’t all the company’s fault: there are mounting concerns on the Street that expectations for the handset market in general for 2008 are simply too high.

Deutsche Bank’s Brian Modoff cut his 2008 unit forecast for the global handset market to 6.1% from 8.1%; he had entered the year expecting 11% growth. Modoff says that consumer globally are stretching out the replacement cycle, “holding off on purchases to pay for gas or food or the mortgage.”

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