Nokia Corp. (NYSE:NOK) shares rose in premarket trading Friday after the company reported first-quarter results, highlighting strong momentum in optical networking and a surge in demand from AI and cloud customers.

Earnings Snapshot

The Finnish company reported net sales of $5.26 billion (4.5 billion euros), up 4% year over year, but missed consensus estimates of $5.40 billion. EPS came at 6 cents, missing estimates by 3% but increasing 67% year-on-year.

The company’s Network Infrastructure segment grew 6% year over year, driven by a 20% increase in Optical Networks sales. Mobile Infrastructure sales grew 3% year over year with strength in Core Software (up 5%) and Technology Standards (up 10%). Sales growth at Radio Networks remained flat.

Outlook

For full-year 2026, Nokia maintained its comparable operating profit outlook of $2.34 billion (2.0 billion euros) to $2.93 billion (2.5 billion euros).

Nokia projects network infrastructure sales growth of 12% to 14% on a constant-currency and portfolio basis, including an assumption that optical and IP networks together grow 18% to 20%.

It also guided for second-quarter seasonality, expecting net sales to rise 5% to 9% quarter over quarter and second-quarter operating profit to represent 12% to 16% of the full-year total.

Nokia raised its view for the AI and cloud addressable market, now expecting 27% compounded annual growth from 2025 to 2028, versus 16% previously estimated at its November capital markets day. The company said supply-chain lead times are stretching as investment activity scales up.

NOK Stock Price Activity: Nokia shares were up 4.86% at $10.83 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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