BlackBerry narrows loss amid focus on services

BlackBerry Ltd. said it expects to continue its turnaround to a fully-fledged software company as the Canadian company posted better-than-expected adjusted earnings in its latest quarter.

“What this might mean, and I make no promise, is that you may soon see a BlackBerry tablet”, Chen said in a conference call with analysts after the company released its fourth-quarter and year-end numbers. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 93.19% and a negative return on equity of 3.62%.

The Street, in particular, will want to know if CEO John Chen has made good on his pledge to increase revenue from software by 30 per cent year over year, a commitment he reiterated in December.

BlackBerry then shed its phone-making business past year by outsourcing everything device-related, such as phone designs, sales and production, to third-party companies.

BlackBerry shares are hitting lower and lower highs, and the company’s results are falling short of expectations.

The stock’s price switched up -0.49% 20-Days Simple Moving Average, dropped -2.17% from 50-Days Simple Moving Average and fell -5.03% from 200 Days Simple Moving Average. The company has no plans to build an autonomous vehicle, but will provide software components within that burgeoning market, he added.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on BB. While the stock price moved along with the volume change, shares are touching $7.84 at the time of writing. They set an “overweight” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. The company also received one Buy, two Overweight, 12 Hold, one Underweight, and two Sell ratings from the analysts at FactSet Fundamentals. The company’s Toronto-listed stock was up 15.4 percent at C$10.70.

Another highlight during this quarter came from the Mobile World Congress, where TCL launched the BlackBerry KEYone, the most secure Android phone in the world, featuring a smart QWERTY keyboard.

BlackBerry Limited (BlackBerry) provides mobile communications solutions.

With BlackBerry’s smartphone market share falling to less than one per cent of the world market, the deal has allowed the Ontario firm to focus on other areas such as security software and its connected auto systems.