Finance and Economic

An analyst cut his rating and price target on Motorola Inc. Monday, saying the company continues to lose handset market share in North America, where nearly half of its unit sales originate.

Piper Jaffray analyst T. Michael Walkley downgraded Motorola (MOT, Fortune 500) to "Sell" from "Neutral" and cut his price target to $7 from $9.75.

The new target implies he expects shares to slip 12% over Friday’s $7.94 close.

While North American market share remains well above its global share, sales at four major wireless carriers on the continent are declining, he said.

Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in March that it plans to separate the handset business, which has been hurt by a two-year-long decline in cell phone sales, from its home and networks business.

The company said in April that it expects second-quarter handset sales to be equal to, or slightly better than, its results from the first quarter.

Walkley lowered his 2008 handset forecast to 106 million from 116 million.

He warned that the macroeconomic problems facing North America appear to have had an effect on government budgets, which could hurt the company’s enterprise mobility solutions business later this year.

So far this year, the stock has dipped 51%.

A company representative was not immediately available for comment. 

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