By Carly Forster
Mobile company turned software company BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) announced its fourth quarter 2015 financial results on Friday, March 27th, revealing a surprise profit.
Highlights from the report include earnings of $0.04 a share on $76 million in profit, beating analysts’ estimates of a loss of -$0.04 a share and marking a huge comeback from a -$0.08 a share on a $784 million loss from the same quarter a year prior. Blackberry posted revenue of $660 million, falling short of analysts’ estimate of $778 million and marking a 32% decrease year-over-year.
Blackberry has seen a huge positive turnaround since John Chen took over as CEO in November 2013. Since the change in leadership Blackberry shares have risen over 60%. As a result, the company has started to be cash flow positive this year.
One of the reasons for Blackberry’s turnaround is due to its shift in focus from smartphones to software. In November, Blackberry launched its BES 12 platform that was designed for businesses that connect with all mobile devices, including all Blackberry phones. They even obtained 5.1 million licenses to sign up for a free trial of its platform until the end of January.
Chen said of Blackberry’s most recent earnings, “Our software business had a particularly strong quarter, growing 24% quarter-over-quarter and 20% on a year-over-year basis. With the fourth quarter under our belt, we are now halfway through our two-year turnaround effort, and I’m very pleased to report that our financial house is in order… Our financial viability is no longer in question. We are now turning our attention to revenue stabilization, or staying cash flow positive, and achieving sustainable profitability sometime starting this year, this fiscal year.”
In response to Blackberry’s most recent earnings, Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um reiterated a Market Perform rating on the stock on March 27th with a valuation range of $9.50 to $10.50. Missing his own estimates, Um noted, “Our first take would suggest Hardware gross margins declined sequentially despite an implicit higher mix of BB10 devices.”
Overall, Maynard Um has a 56% success rate recommending stocks and a +11.9% average return per recommendation.
On the other hand, Citigroup) analyst Ehud Gelblum reiterated a Sell rating on Blackberry on March 27th, citing that the company’s Q4 revenue was “very weak.”
Overall, Gelbum has a 36% success rate recommending stocks and a +0.7% average return per recommendation.
On average, the top analyst consensus for Blackberry on TipRanks is Hold.