Very few companies wanted to buy BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), and those that did wouldn’t pay enough for the company, or couldn’t get their hands on the cash. The Canadian mobile device company is no longer for sale, and its future is less certain than it was a month ago. With new management in place, BlackBerry may have opportunities ahead, but it’s going to be a rocky road.
According to Michael Genovese, who authored a report on BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) for MKM Partners, the cancellation of the sale of the company could lead to Blackberry becoming a more focused company. He sees the $1 billion financing deal as a mark of faith in the company from Fairfax and other investors. Genovese upgrades Blackberry shares to Neutral from Sell in his report and puts a price target of $6 on the stock.
BlackBerry fails to sell itself
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) could not bring anybody to the table with both the ability and the ambition to acquire the company. The Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (TSE:FFH) deal was not closed, and the attempt to auction the company did not attract any acceptable offers. BlackBerry will not go private, and it will not become part of another company.
That makes the company’s medium term more difficult, and makes the company’s long term outlook almost entirely unpredictable. The firm is cutting costs, and it has its hands on new financing, but it may not be able to survive through the next few years with its business in its current state.
There are still opportunities for BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). The company still has businesses with potential and it still has a world-renowned brand. Yesterday’s news did not mark the end for the Canadian company, but it does mark the beginning of a period of strategic reorientation.
BlackBerry going forward
There are a few opportunities out there for BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). According to a Raymond James report on the company, there is a viable opportunity for it to succeed in the Mobile Device Management business. BlackBerry has the most famous MDM system out there, but it will take time to turn it into a third party platform rather than a proprietary system.
The MKM Partners report has a wholly different, and more pessimistic, future in mind for BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). The analysts support the company’s choice to step back from the high end consumer space in developed markets. There is too much competition in those spaces. Getting into them is too expensive for the company to attempt after last year’s failure.
In the same line Michael Genovese thinks that BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) should stop looking to the enterprise market in the developed world in order to save its business. Blackberry should be concentrating on emerging markets, according to the report. That’s where the company maintains strength, and where it is likely to do best going froward.
