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Blackberry posts 3Q adjusted profit, revenue down

Blackberry reported an adjusted profit for its fiscal third quarter, surprising Wall Street

The Jakarta Post
New York
Fri, December 19, 2014

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Blackberry posts 3Q adjusted profit, revenue down

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lackberry reported an adjusted profit for its fiscal third quarter, surprising Wall Street. But its revenue fell, missing analysts' estimates.

Its shares declined more than 5 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

Blackberry was considered a game changer in 1999 when it launched the RIM 950, which allowed on-the-go business people to access email wirelessly. Then came a new generation of competing smartphones, and suddenly BlackBerry looked ancient. Apple Inc. showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. Blackberry was late in overhauling its operating system to compete.

BlackBerry now holds a small fraction of the U.S. smartphone market after commanding a nearly 50 percent share as recently as 2009. It is trying to stay relevant on making hardware even as it tries to transform itself into an enterprise security and consumer software company.

On Wednesday, Blackberry launched the Classic, a new phone that features a traditional keyboard at a time when rival Apple and Android phones '€” and most smartphone customers '€” have embraced touch screens. Blackberry is courting its core customer, the business user, with the new device. Whether the Classic will sell enough to keep Blackberry in the hardware business is unclear.

For the period ended Nov. 29, the Canadian company lost US$148 million, or 28 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $4.4 billion, or $8.37 per share, a year earlier. Stripping out some charges, earnings were a penny per share.

Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research predicted a loss of 6 cents per share.

Revenue dropped to $793 million from $1.19 billion. Analysts were looking for $927.8 million, according to Zacks.

Blackberry said that about 46 percent of its revenue came from hardware, with another 46 percent from services. Software and other revenue was 8 percent.

Blackberry Ltd. said that it continues to target sustainable adjusted profitability some time in fiscal 2016.

Its stock fell 56 cents, or 5.6 percent, to $9.51 in premarket trading about 90 minutes before the market open. (*****)

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