BlackBerry gains on software sales

Article Excerpt

BLACKBERRY LTD. $10 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 530.5 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) recently quit developing new smartphones as part of its plan to focus on the company’s more-promising communications software operations. For its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, ended February 28, 2017, Blackberry’s revenue fell 38.4%, to $286 million from $464 million a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Revenue from the company’s software and services business (64% of the total) jumped 38.9% in the quarter, mainly due to recent acquisitions. But thanks to these purchases, about 80% of that business’s revenue now comes from recurring subscriptions. Revenue from the sale of Blackberry’s phones and other mobile solutions (19%) fell 71.1%. That’s because the company has outsourced the development of new phones to other manufacturers. Due to fewer older BlackBerry handsets now in use, revenue from the fees…