“Our record fourth quarter capped a very strong and exciting year for our company,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions. “We streamlined and strengthened our portfolio, grew operating earnings more than five times revenue growth, expanded operating margins, generated strong cash flow and prioritized return of capital to our shareholders.”
GAAP operating earnings in the fourth quarter of 2011 were $276 million or 12 percent of sales, compared to $272 million or 12 percent of sales in the fourth quarter of 2010. GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.54, compared to a GAAP earnings of $0.49 in the fourth quarter of 2010. For the full year 2011, GAAP operating earnings were $858 million or 10 percent of sales, compared to $751 million or 10 percent of sales in 2010. GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations were $2.20, compared to GAAP earnings of $0.72 in 2010.
Non-GAAP operating earnings in the fourth quarter of 2011 were $444 million or 19 percent of sales, compared to $346 million or 16 percent of sales in the fourth quarter of 2010. Non-GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.87, compared to $0.64 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Non-GAAP financial information excludes after-tax net charges of approximately $0.33 per diluted share related to stock-based compensation expense, intangible assets amortization expense and highlighted items. Details on these Non-GAAP adjustments and the use of Non-GAAP measures are included later in this press release. For the full year 2011, Non-GAAP operating earnings were $1.4 billion or 17 percent of sales, compared to $1.1 billion or 14 percent of sales in 2010. Non-GAAP earnings per share from continuing operations were $2.61, compared to $1.84 in 2010.
During the fourth quarter of 2011, the company generated $44 million in operating cashflow from continuing operations, which included a $250 million incremental contribution to the U.S. pension plan. The company ended the quarter with total cash of $5.1 billion while returning $366 million to shareholders through share repurchases during the quarter.
Government segment sales were $1.5 billion, up 6 percent from the year-ago quarter. GAAP operating earnings were $226 million or 15 percent of sales compared to $181 million or 12 percent of sales in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were $307 million or 20 percent of sales compared to $221 million or 15 percent of sales in the year-ago quarter.
For the full year 2011, Government segment sales were $5.4 billion, up 6 percent from 2010. GAAP operating earnings were $616 million or 11 percent of sales compared to $534 million or 11 percent of sales in 2010. Non-GAAP operating earnings were $833 million or 16 percent of sales compared to $637 million or 13 percent of sales in 2010.
Enterprise segment sales were $753 million, up 3 percent from the year-ago quarter, which included a $37 million decline in iDEN sales. GAAP operating earnings were $50 million or 7 percent of sales compared to $91 million or 12 percent of sales in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating earnings were $137 million or 18 percent of sales compared to $125 million or 17 percent of sales in the year-ago quarter.
For the full year 2011, Enterprise segment sales were $2.8 billion, up 11 percent from 2010. GAAP operating earnings were $242 million or 9 percent of sales compared to $217 million or 8 percent of sales in 2010. Non-GAAP operating earnings were $540 million or 19 percent of sales compared to $427 million or 17 percent of sales in 2010.
The fourth-quarter GAAP profit from discontinued operations was $7 million, which substantially relates to the divestiture of the company’s Point-to-Point (Orthogon) and Point-to-Multipoint (Canopy) wireless broadband networks businesses.
Motorola Solutions’ outlook for the first quarter of 2012 is for revenue growth of approximately 4 percent compared with the first quarter of 2011 and earnings per share from continuing operations of $0.50 to $0.55 per share. For the full-year 2012, the company expects revenue growth of approximately 5 percent compared with 2011 and operating earnings of approximately 17 percent of sales. This outlook excludes stock-based compensation expense, intangible assets amortization expense and charges associated with items of the variety typically highlighted by the company in its quarterly earnings releases.