BlackBerry has a bright future believe Cormark analyst Richard Tse, who deviates from the common perception among the analyst that the company has limited life especially after third-quarter shortfall suggesting that the turnaround of the company is not working. Tse has reaffirmed Buy rating on the stock giving it a one-year price target of $17.00 along with a “Speculative” risk rating.
Mixed 3Q for BlackBerry
According to Tse, who was not expecting the numbers to be very overwhelming, the recent quarter was a mixed one for BlackBerry. The analyst added that the decline in revenue is not something he is worried as the low average selling price on handsets was because the company was clearing out the old inventories to focus on the new launches; Passport and Classic.
Analyst notes few potentials going forward like upgrade cycle helping average selling price of hardware and rising popularity of BES12. Also, the analyst expects the company’s software/subscription model to add more value in the future instead of hardware.
According to Tse, BlackBerry will have to take some substantial steps for materializing the turnaround it has planned. However, analysts notes that the Canadian Smartphone maker has enough tricks up its sleeves to make BES12 and the related enterprise applications a success or if not at least make the brand meaningful in enterprise.
…we believe this name will continue to move higher in the new year,” said Tse.
Smart acquisition
The Canadian smartphone maker announced on December 19th that it had acquired Secusmart, a security solutions company that takes contract from the government organization. The acquisition will help BlackBerry strengthen its place in secure enterprise mobility with Secusmart’s encryption and anti-eavesdropping capabilities. Also, it could offer end to end solutions with the highest level of security from the device to the management platform. BlackBerry’s decision of acquiring Secusmart’s appears reasonable especially at a time when Sony Corporation’s cyber hack attack is all-over the media.
The Waterloo Ontario-based company posted third-quarter results on December 19, posting a loss of $148 million on revenue of $793 million, a number that was below the consensus expectation of $931.5 million. During the earnings call, CEO John Chen said, “We achieved a key milestone in our eight-quarter plan with positive cash flow.” Chen said that the company can also reach another landmark in the release of new enterprise software products and devices. The focus of the company is now towards distribution and driving revenue growth, said Chen.
