BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) Downgraded To Buy: Cormark

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As speculation continues to swirl about BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s future, Cormark Securities analysts have downgraded the stock to Buy. They kept their $13.50 per share price target on the stock and provided a preview of the company’s fiscal second quarter results as well as suggestions of who might be interested in buying the company.

BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY) Downgraded To Buy: Cormark

BlackBerry results won’t be a surprise

Analysts Richard Tse and Hubert Mak are looking ahead to the struggling company’s Sept. 27 earnings report. They said the results shouldn’t be much of a surprise since investors are pretty much expecting that they will be dismal. They note that the outlook for BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s full fiscal year is very risky, so the company’s valuation can’t be on the company’s potential earnings power.

Instead, they said the valuation should be on its underlying asset value, which they continue to believe is at their $13.50 per share price target.

BlackBerry’s potential suitors

The analysts note that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s pending purchase of Nokia’s devices division suggests that it won’t buy Nokia, but there are plenty of other possible suitors. The other companies they named as possibly be interested in Blackberry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) are Lenovo Group Ltd. (PINK:LNVGY) (HKG:0992), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) and even Dell Inc (NASDAQ:DELL).

Of course they also name private equity companies as potential buyers, although they do not name Prem Watsa or his firm Fairfax Financial. Their report was issued before today’s report that Watsa may be gathering the financial backing needed to make a bid on BlackBerry.

What would BlackBerry’s buyers get?

The Cormark Securities analysts believe that “the sad reality” is that potential bidders won’t be buying the company for its BlackBerry 10 platform but rather elements of it plus the company’s underlying assets. They said that includes BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s intellectual property portfolio, which they value at around $250,000 per patent.

As a result, the analysts say they remain at their $13.50 per share price target even though this month’s results are not expected to be great.

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