Sector Snap: Handset stocks mostly rise

Nokia's American Depositary Shares rose 1.47, or 6 percent, to $26.13. In the past year, the stock has traded between $23.61 and $42.22.

Nokia said on Tuesday it is purchasing the consortium that makes the software for its phones and making it available to other manufacturers for free--a move meant to impede the influence of competing software providers.

Software made by U.K.-based Symbian is the most used on high-end cell phones.

Nokia and several other handset makers also will create a foundation that makes the software available royalty-free, and will combine their versions of the software for advanced, data-enabled handsets into a single open platform.

In a client note, Lehman Brothers analyst Jeffrey Kvaal called the move "a positive strategic step" for Nokia, even though it will reduce the company's earnings a bit in the near term.

"This move to develop an open platform ecosystem reflects Nokia's increasing focus on software and applications and should lead to improved time to market and an increased developer/customer base for Symbian," said Kvaal, who rates the stock "Overweight."

Meanwhile, shares of competitor Motorola Inc. rose 15 cents to $7.50.

Kvaal wrote in a separate note that he thinks Motorola's market share is still falling, but "at a relatively modest pace compared with the sharp declines of recent quarters."

He lowered his 2009 earnings-per-share estimate for the company to 38 cents from 42 cents.