Nokia Corporation NOK is scheduled to report second-quarter 2026 earnings before market open on July 23. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales and earnings is pegged at $5.59 billion and 7 cents per share, respectively. Over the past 60 days, estimates for NOK have remained unchanged for 2026, while it has increased 4.17% to 50 cents for 2027.
NOK Estimate Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings Surprise History
The leading wireless manufacturer delivered a four-quarter earnings surprise of 2.91%, on average.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings Whispers
Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Nokia for the second quarter. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. This is not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Nokia currently has an ESP of -16.67% and carries a Zacks Rank #3.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Factors Shaping the Quarterly Performance
During the quarter, Nokia introduced an agentic AI framework in its Network Services Platform to enable trust-based AI operations for IP networks, helping service providers improve automation, decision-making, and network efficiency while ensuring secure and reliable network management.
NOK also launched its AI Networking Innovation Lab in Sunnyvale, CA. The facility is designed to accelerate the development, testing and validation of next-generation AI-native data center networking technologies through collaboration with leading AI and cloud ecosystem partners. It has announced a major expansion of advanced semiconductor testing and packaging operations in Pennsylvania, to strengthen U.S. chip capabilities and support rising demand from AI applications and next-generation computing technologies. Such efforts to gain prominence in expanding the AI ecosystem will likely have a positive impact on upcoming results.
In the quarter under review, Virgin Media O2, a leading British telecom company, has opted to leverage Nokia’s AirScale RAN portfolio for 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) deployment and modernization program across the UK. Nokia and Cinia partnered to strengthen Finland’s critical infrastructure with advanced DDoS protection. The collaboration aims to enhance network security, ensure service continuity and safeguard essential digital systems against rising cyber threats across the country. It has also formed a strategic collaboration with Blaize Holdings, Inc. and PT Datacomm to accelerate the deployment of hybrid AI inference infrastructure across Indonesia and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Such growing collaboration with industry leaders and customer wins will likely have a positive impact in upcoming quarters.
The company faces competition in each of its served markets. In the AI data center market, it faces competition from Arista Networks, Inc. ANET, while Ericsson ERIC remains a major rival in the legacy telecom space.
Price Performance
Over the past year, Nokia has surged 113.1% compared with the industry’s growth of 26.4%, outperforming its peers, ANET and ERIC. While Arista has gained 51.1%, Ericsson has soared 31.5% over this period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Key Valuation Metric
From a valuation standpoint, Nokia appears to be relatively premium than the industry but above its mean. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 22.15 forward sales, higher than 18.91 for the industry and higher than the stock’s mean of 17.81.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Investment Consideration
Nokia is benefiting from growing demand across software, enterprise and cloud-oriented networking markets. The company remains positioned to benefit from passive optical networking deployments and is the only global supplier offering O-RAN with commercial 5G Cloud-RAN networks.
Rapid expansion into the AI infrastructure market is a positive. Its newly launched AI innovation lab is also gaining strong traction. The lab already includes partnerships with major players such as AMD, Lenovo, Viavi, Keysight and Supermicro. Such growing collaboration with industry leaders is expected to drive the adoption of NOK data center switches and increase its overall AI-related revenue opportunity.
Nokia is also embedding AI directly into the operation of broadband networks. The company is introducing AI agents across its Altiplano, Corteca and Broadband Easy platforms, enabling telecom operators to automate network planning, deployment, troubleshooting and customer support. Such initiatives are expected to boost its competitive edge.
Nokia owns approximately 20,000 patents, including around 7,000 patents essential to 5G technologies. Its 5G portfolio continues to gain traction among enterprise customers, supporting recurring opportunities beyond traditional carrier spending cycles. However, Nokia remains exposed to the cyclical nature of telecommunications infrastructure spending. Periods of elevated network investment are frequently followed by slower spending environments, creating variability in revenue growth.
Despite growing AI-related revenues, gaining a leadership position in the AI networking domain remains an uphill task for Nokia due to the presence of strong players such as Arista and HPE. Nokia also generates substantial revenue across international markets and remains exposed to economic slowdowns, political uncertainty, regulatory changes and geopolitical disruptions.
End Note
Nokia remains positioned to benefit from increasing demand for next-generation connectivity, given the breadth of its end-to-end portfolio. Growing collaboration with industry leaders and customer wins are positive factors. A comprehensive patent portfolio will likely propel further customer acquisition. However, stiff competition, softness in the mobile infrastructure market and fluctuating spending patterns by telecom players are headwinds. Geopolitical unrest and forex volatility are concerning. Hence, with a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold), Nokia is treading in the middle of the road, and new investors should remain cautious. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge Gains
Quantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.
While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.
Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power .
Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.
See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Nokia Corporation (NOK): Free Stock Analysis Report
Ericsson (ERIC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).