BlackBerry’s parent sees profit beating expectations
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To sustain the stock market’s turnaround, investors may need to see more forecasts like the one that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Inc. gave Thursday.
After regular trading ended, the company reported higher-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results and -- more important -- said results in the current quarter also would beat analysts’ forecasts.
RIM estimated that earnings this quarter would be in the range of 88 cents to 97 cents a share. Analysts’ mean estimate had been 82 cents, according to Bloomberg News data.
The company issued its results and forecast after markets closed. RIM shares, which rose $3.47 to $49.09 in regular trading, shot up to $60 in after-hours trading.
The bear market has left the stock trading for about one-third its all-time high of $147 in June 2008.
Investors had worried in recent months that RIM would sacrifice earnings to gain market share in a tougher economy. But the company said it expected its gross profit margin to widen this quarter from the previous quarter.
RIM had 25 million BlackBerry subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter, a net gain of 3.9 million from the previous period.
From Bloomberg News:
RIM introduced the touch-screen Storm and less expensive models like the Pearl Flip last year to broaden the BlackBerry’s appeal beyond corporate customers, who account for more than half of subscribers. Luring consumers has become increasingly important after financial services companies have cut 287,000 jobs globally. Demand for BlackBerry phones including the Storm and the latest version of the Curve is ‘resilient,’ based on retail store checks in February and March, said Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. The Bold model, RIM’s most-expensive device, remains popular with business users, he said.
-- Tom Petruno