Nokia's American depositary receipts climbed to $13.62 on Friday, marking a 16-year high, following a strong first-quarter earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations. The Finnish telecommunications equipment maker reported a 49% year-over-year surge in sales to artificial intelligence and cloud customers, reaching €1 billion in orders. Comparable operating profit rose 54% to €281 million, beating the €250 million consensus estimate compiled by Infront.
The earnings release, which also saw comparable net sales hit €4.5 billion, prompted a bullish call from CNBC's Jim Cramer. During the lightning round of "Mad Money" on April 28, Cramer declared Nokia a "winner," saying, "It's back. I can't believe it. It finally did come back." His endorsement added to the positive sentiment already driving the stock higher.
Under CEO Justin Hotard, Nokia is pivoting from its traditional reliance on telecom operators toward high-growth AI and data-center infrastructure. The company has restructured into two units: mobile infrastructure and network infrastructure, the latter targeting hyperscalers and cloud-service providers. "We are increasing our growth assumption for Optical and IP Networks and we are investing to capture accelerating demand from AI & Cloud customers," Hotard stated in the interim report.
Nokia raised its 2026 growth forecast for Network Infrastructure net sales to 12%–14%, up sharply from the 6%–8% projected in January. The company also increased its estimate for the AI and cloud addressable market, now expecting a 27% compound annual growth rate between 2025 and 2028, compared with a prior 16% forecast.
This week, Nokia announced the sale of its fixed wireless access customer-premises equipment (CPE) business to Inseego. Under the deal, Nokia will receive an approximately 7% equity stake in Inseego and plans to invest an additional $10 million, bringing its holding to about 11%. The transaction, expected to close in the fourth quarter, is not anticipated to materially impact Nokia's financials. "Inseego is the right strategic partner for this business and for Nokia's customers," said Konstanty Owczarek, Nokia's chief corporate development officer.
The competitive landscape remains intense. Nokia continues to vie with Ericsson in mobile network equipment and, following its acquisition of Infinera, now holds the number two position globally in optical networking, trailing only Huawei. Meanwhile, Cisco has introduced new AI-centric networking chips and routers, adding pressure on all players vying for data-center infrastructure spending.
Despite the upbeat quarter, risks persist. Nokia cautioned about fierce competition, shifting customer budgets, product development costs, semiconductor sourcing issues, and supply-chain disruptions. Hotard also warned that Europe's slow rollout of AI data-center infrastructure could push developers to relocate to China or the U.S. The company maintained its full-year comparable operating profit guidance of €2.0 billion to €2.5 billion, noting it is trending slightly above the midpoint.
Nokia's U.S.-listed shares (NYSE: NOK) closed at $13.62, up $0.71 from Thursday's close. The stock has now reached its highest level since April 2010, reflecting growing investor confidence in the company's AI-driven transformation.