Big 3Q Turnaround for Motorola

Motorola seems to be righting the ship after a couple of rough quarters. In its earnings call Thursday, the company unveiled quarterly net income of $12 million. That’s a huge improvement over the nearly $400 million it lost in the previous quarter.

Motorola dumped 8,000 employees in a restructuring move earlier this year and chopped another $100 million out of its budget, meaning the largest phone-maker in the U.S. should save nearly $2 billion more than in 2008.

The company is predicting profit in the fourth quarter will beat estimates. That helped boost its stock price nearly 10 percent Thursday.

Motorola lost mobile phone market share this past quarter, but the introduction of the new DROID smartphone, based on Android software, and the debut of the CLIQ last month, are helping to breathe new life into the company.