Posted on March 31, 2009, at 3:22 PM .
The Financial Post Trading Desk is reporting that RIM’s first-quarter revenue is estimated to come down to US$3.1-billion on seven million new units shipped.
Raymond James & Associates is giving an Outperform rating on RIM stock with a target price of US$66.
Citi analyst Jim Suva, however, has a Hold on the stock with a target price of US$46. Mr. Suva remains skeptical in the near term, estimating earnings-per-share growth of just 7% this year, which is “hard to get excited over.”
Hopefully upcoming device launches such as the Niagara will quell any market uncertainty.
[Via]
Posted on March 30, 2009, at 10:28 AM .
RIM’s market is currently around 50% consumer and 50% enterprise. The shift has been a while coming and it has been helped by a series of aggressive ad campaigns, new software, and rolling out more consumer-friendly devices, such as the touch-screen Storm. The move has also proved successful due to RIM increasing its share of the smartphone market—up to 19.5 percent in the last three months of 2008, from 10.9 percent a year earlier.
Investors are weary due to the fact that these efforts to get the consumer market have taken a toll on RIM’s gross profit margins, which have shrunk to 40 percent, down from 50 percent in the last six months. It is also possible that these measures, in combination with other market factors, have helped knock RIM’s share price down a third from its July 2008 high of $147 per share.
Jim Balsillie is calling the strategy a “land grab” and that the company was looking for long-term gain with it. He said of their consumer push, “So we could have a sweeter margin for a couple of quarters and we might not torque the growth quite as much and then we will rue that for the next 20 years, that we gave up the key land for a little bit of interim gratification.”
In the end, investors are going to see RIM take not only a larger chunk of the consumer market, but also the enterprise market. Consumers are starting to see the BlackBerry as a status symbol that is a must-have mobile device. Enterprise simply can’t do without their push email and plethora of productivity apps with a simple and easy to use OS to boot. Expect these investors to say “sorry for doubting you Jim Dog” in the coming years.
[Via]
Posted on March 26, 2009, at 7:54 AM .
Shares of RIM rose after a Goldman Sachs analyst said she would buy the stock in advance of its fiscal fourth-quarter report, which is scheduled for April 2. Shares rose $1.89, or 4.6 percent, to $44.87 in afternoon trading.
In a note to clients, Goldman analyst Simona Jankowski kept her “Buy” rating and $57 price target for the stock, predicting RIM will meet fourth-quarter and first-quarter guidance – something she thinks will help its shares.
Although RIM has said that its fourth-quarter earnings will likely come in at the low end of its forecast range, which had called for 83 cents to 91 cents per share, the news will surely help shares regardless.
RIM is also predicting that revenue will be at or near the midpoint of its earlier projection, which was for $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion.
Goldman Sachs aren’t the only people backing RIM either. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting a profit of 85 cents per share on $3.42 billion in revenue.
[Via]
Posted on February 5, 2009, at 5:31 PM .
Woah. It looks like the Ontario Securities Commission has made their decision on a possible settlement with RIM over their backdating scandal. The news is fresh as of an hour ago, so I’m just going to quote straight from Reuters:
Research In Motion Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie will step down from the board and, along with other executives of the company that makes the BlackBerry smartphone, will repay tens of millions of dollars to settle stock-option allegations dating back to 1996.
Under the pact reached with the Ontario Securities Commission and approved on Thursday, Balsillie will pay a penalty of C$5 million ($4.1 million), while Co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis will pay a C$1.5 million penalty. The two men also must pay investigation costs to the regulator.
The agreement also stipulates that the two co-CEOs and RIM’s former CFO, Dennis Kavelman, will repay C$38.3 million to the company. They must also repay about C$30 million to cover the costs of a voluntary internal probe into the matter undertaken by RIM earlier.
Balsillie and Lazaridis had already paid C$15 million to offset the costs of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s internal review. Balsillie may not serve on RIM’s board for at least 12 months as part of the settlement, and Kavelman must pay a C$1.5 million penalty.
The OSC alleged the executives backdated and repriced stock options using dates on which the market price of RIM’s shares was relatively low. Handing out options at the lower prices had the effect of improperly enriching the recipients and, the OSC alleged, could have deprived RIM of about C$66 million.
It’s a huge chunk of change, but at least RIM can now put this whole affair behind them. You can see statements from Balsillie and the OSC after the jump.
|via Reuters|
Continue reading ‘BREAKING: RIM settles with OSC for $76 million, Balsillie to step down from board’
Posted on December 19, 2008, at 10:49 AM .
A quick look at RIM’s stock on Yahoo! Finance shows that the Waterloo company has jumped a quick $3 from close yesterday, roughly 8% of their total share price, to $41.50. Analysts are attributing the minor (but welcome) bump not so much to yesterday’s fiscal Q3 2009 earnings report, but RIM’s guidance for Q4.
While analysts had expected revenue of $2.97 billion and earnings per share of 83 cents on average, RIM is expecting Q4 sales of $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion and earnings of 83 to 91 cents per share. These figures are being attributed to a “record number” of Q4 device shipments, likely due to multiple launch delays.
If RIM has the quarter in Q4 they wanted to have in Q3, expect the market to respond in a big way. For now, it’s cautious optimism to promises of future gains.
|via Reuters|
Posted on December 5, 2008, at 1:59 PM .
Thursday, December 18th will likely be one of the most important days of 2008 for RIM. On the 18th, RIM will report their Q3 2009 fiscal results after market close. Considering RIM’s sliding stock price and their lowered Q3 outlook, the focus may just be on how bad the numbers are.
RIM will hold a conference call and live webcast at 5 pm ET on the 18th, which can be accessed by dialing 800-733-7571 or by logging on at www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml. As always, you can expect the live blogging coverage of the conference call you’ve come to expect from BlackBerry Cool.
