Sorry for resurrecting a topic that petered out months
ago, but what exchange rates did you use to translate
Nokia's results (in Euros) to the $ figures below?  In
particular, did you use a different exchange rate for
the 99Q3 and 98Q3 data, or the same rate for both?


                     Nokia                                        Qualcomm        Motorola
                      (NOK)                                         (QCOM)          (MOT)
                  Current PeriodYear-ago PerioYear-over-Year    Current Period  Current PeriodCurrent Period
                       99Q3          98Q3         Growth             99Q4            99Q3         <Date>
 Income Statement . . .
   Sales                  5,223         3,500      49.2%                  1,060         7,688
   Cost of Goods S        3,282         2,122      54.7%                    621         4,601
   Net Income               662           481      37.5%                    136            91
   Shares Outstand        1,185         1,176      0.8%

 Balance Sheet . . .
   Cash & Equivale        3,455         2,342      47.6%                  1,614         3,527
   Current Assets         9,963         6,860      45.2%                  2,978        16,015
   Short-term Debt          469           521     -10.0%                    115         1,495
   Current Liabili        6,059         4,024      50.6%                    876        11,898
   Long-term Debt           285           174      63.7%                      1         3,598
                                                                               1             1             0
 Margins & Ratios . . .                                                                                     Competitors' Average
   Gross Margins           37.2%         39.4%     -2.2                    41.4%         40.2%                   40.8%
   Net Margins             12.7%         13.7%     -1.1                    12.8%          1.2%                    7.0%
   Cash-to-Debt             4.58          3.37     36.0%                   13.91          0.69                    0.99
   Net Cash               2701.4        1646.8     64.0%                  1498.0       -1566.0                   -34.0
   Fool Flow Ratio          1.16          1.29     -9.7%                    1.79          1.20                    1.50


My own research yielded numbers similar to yours for
99Q3, but markedly different numbers for 98Q3.  The raw 
financial data that I found (from MarketGuide, via 
Schwab) listed the numbers in Euros.  I did some 
checking, and found that the exchange rate on 9/30/99 
was 1.0642 $/Euro, and on 9/30/98 was 1.1787 $/Euro; I 
used those rates to convert the 99Q3 and 98Q3 data from 
Euros to Dollars.

In this case, it didn't matter much in this case which 
exchange rate I used for the 98Q3 data, but I can 
imagine cases where it would.  Basically, over the 
course of the year from 9/30/98 to 9/30/99, the Euro got 
"cheaper" in US$ terms (i.e., 1 US$ could buy more Euros 
at the end of that period than at the beginning).  In 
this case, that difference wasn't enough to change the 
scores in the various RM categories, but what if the 
exchange rate difference had been larger?

What is the right thing to do when you're looking at 
financials in other than US$?  Use the later exchange 
rate to convert all the data (like you apparently did), 
or use the exchange rate as of the date of the data 
(like I did)?  Why?


Thanks!

-Brent