Motorola Inc said on Wednesday it will post an operating loss in the current quarter as its cell phone business is taking longer than expected to turn around, dashing Wall Street hopes for a profit and sending its shares down as much as 23 percent. The company, whose weak cell phone product line caused it to lose customers to rivals like Nokia and Samsung Electronics in 2007, warned of further market share losses this quarter and backed off its forecast for its mobile devices division to return to profitability in 2008. Motorola forecast a first-quarter loss per share from continuing operations of 5 cents to 7 cents, before any reorganization charges. Analysts had expected a profit of 9 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. “The figures had us scratching our heads, checking the date to see if we were looking at an earnings release from 2002,” JPMorgan analyst Ehud Gelblum said in a note to clients.

Some analysts questioned if Motorola would stay intact after its outlook overshadowed quarterly results that were in line with expectations. Activist shareholder Carl Icahn has called for a break-up of the company. He was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. “They’re flirting with the handset death spiral. They’re losing share, which makes them smaller, which makes them less competitive on costs, which makes their phones less compelling, which loses more share,” said Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder. Asked about the potential for a company break-up, Motorola Chief Executive Greg Brown would only say he was focused on cutting costs, getting mobile devices back to profit and expanding the set-top box and enterprise mobility units.