Motorola used to be a benchmark company, but then fell on hard times with the entire technology sector after 2000. If you pull up a long-term chart on the stock (say 25 years) you will notice that the stock has now seemingly returned to its historical trend.

This is a positive development and, although you can’t use past performance to predict the future, the company’s operations have turned around. In fact, the company is now once again setting records in its financial growth.

The company just announced record second quarter revenues of $10.88 billion, which represents an impressive 29% gain over 2005 second quarter revenues of $8.41 billion. For any multi- billion dollar company, a 29% quarterly gain in revenues is noteworthy.

Motorola generated earnings per share of $0.55 during the second quarter, as compared to $0.37 in the second quarter of 2005. The company shipped a record number of handsets, increased its market share in that business, and shipped a record number of entertainment set-top boxes.

Clearly, the company’s operations are back on a roll. Looking to the third quarter of 2006, the company expects revenues to come between $10.9 and $11.1 billion, representing a gain of 20% to 23% over the third quarter of 2005.

One of the lessons of Motorola’s ups and downs over the last five years is the cyclicality of the technology sector. There’s also a lot of competition in this business from the Japanese.

Motorola has always been one of my favorite large-cap companies. I say this because I like the company’s products and I like to support domestic manufacturers.

Motorola’s latest numbers were a boost for the company and a boost for the entire technology sector. The company’s results are a good sign for the future and a positive development for all technology stocks.