Talking Stocks: How BlackBerry, Apple, Google and Microsoft performed the past year
Two giants, one surprise and a still-struggling BlackBerry
Two giants, one surprise and a still-struggling BlackBerry
Last night I came across an article about BlackBerry published on Seeking Alpha. In case you aren't familiar with the site, it's one of the leading sites where anyone can submit investing articles. Many of the articles are of excellent quality. But some are written by people who don't understand accounting, financials, technology or other critical aspects of the topic they are...
* Update - Umi wrote up this editorial on yesterday's Home Depot news, as the stock dipped yesterday and he was writing an editorial around it. Today's much BIGGER BBRY market news here is word that former BlackBerry Co-CEO Jim Balsillie has liquidated his stock in the company. Find out what this means for BlackBerry. Headlines aside, Umi's editorial here is still a good general...
Good morning CrackBerry Nation! It's Monday Feb 4th, and as planned, Research In Motion is now BlackBerry on the stock exchanges. The ticker symbol has changed from RIMM to BBRY on the Nasdaq, and from RIM to BB on the Toronto Stock Exchange. And as much as I loathe short term trading, I have to say it's a nice beginning to have the stock up almost 6% in early trading today. A big...
In less than a week, BlackBerry 10 will be officially unveiled. RIM stock is at 52 week highs, and lots of analysts, investors, and even the media, are jumping on board with great things to say about the turnaround in Waterloo. When this stuff happens, analysts have to react. They either jump on the bandwagon concluding that something good is really happening, or they stick to...
For many years I looked forward to Research In Motion's late December quarterly results. They'd almost always outperform expectations so it was like an early Christmas present to sit there listening to the joy. The last couple of years haven't been quite as fun to watch. This Thursday, December 20th, RIM will report its latest set of financial results. Will we get an early...
Over the last week I've spent a fair bit of time reading and digesting the thoughts in various bullish and bearish analyst reports on Research In Motion. I noticed that most analysts seemed to be estimated BlackBerry 10 hardware to sell for about $400. This figure, known in the industry as ASP (Average Selling Price) is the price device manufacturers sell to operators at. It is NOT the...
Yesterday a research firm put out a report saying that the iPhone is back on top of the US market, while Android is a close second. Everyone else is currently irrelevant based on the numbers. According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, our beloved BlackBerry maker is down to 1.6% of the US smartphone market for the three months ending October. They had 8.5% of the market in the year...
BlackBerry or BlackBeary? Yesterday I mentioned the fairly bullish report from Scotia Capital, talking about upside in Research In Motion shares based on a successful BlackBerry 10 launch. I've gone on a bit of a data-gathering rampage since last night. So between tons of reading and thinking, and plenty of coffee this morning, I have a much clearer picture of how analysts are...
Scotia Capital analyst Gus Papageougiou published another research note today outlining the upside for investors over the next few months. I sounded off on his previous report in mid-October which outlined the potential upside in RIM if the launch of BlackBerry 10 goes well. As is always the case with reports like this, the report is an exploration of scenarios. Papageougiou does a...
It feels like the right time to revisit Research In Motion's stock price and have a frank discussion about the upside opportunity and the risks. Usually when I write these kinds of posts we get a lot of readership and comments, and I love the interaction. Let's start by looking back over the last few months. In September, RIM hit lows that we haven't seen since back in 2003. Of...
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins and CMO Frank Boulben Scotia Capital analyst Gus Papageourgiou published a research report today discussing the potential for upside in Research In Motion shares should the launch of BlackBerry 10 actually go well. Gus has been covering RIM for a very long time - only a small number of people in the financial community know the history as well as he does....
Wrapping up a week of BlackBerry stock activity fueled by rumors... Yesterday we saw a story from Bloomberg revealing that IBM had informally expressed an interest in Research In Motion's enterprise division. The story is light on details. We don't know if there is any ongoing discussion between RIM and IBM. We have to assume that IBM is interested, or at least was interested...
There was a story published by Reuters today talking about a former AT&T executive who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud. Alnoor Ebrahim, 57, apparently got himself involved in a highly enticing and all-too-common illegal practice over the last few years. Besides poor ethics, this boils down to heavy use of expert networks by hedge funds, and...
CrackBerry Kevin & Chris Umiastowski at BlackBerry World 2012 - be sure to say hi! Tomorrow morning, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins will take the stage at the opening keynote session for BlackBerry World 2012. There are a lot of hopes and expectations on RIM from beaten-down investors these days. So I thought I'd write up a quick set of my thoughts heading into the event. Obviously...
It's been a couple of weeks since RIM reported Q4 results. And in a couple more weeks, BlackBerry World 2012 will be upon us. The stock is still hovering around tangible book value, which stands at $12.42 per share. So despite all of the news and volatility, the stock price isn't much changed from a month ago. Let's look at potential catalysts to move the stock over the next few...
Last week RIM stock dipped below $13 per share, rising to end the week at $13.58. That's only a dime above the accounting value for the company after excluding goodwill and other intangible assets such as patents. But it's off to another weak start this week, trading below the $13.48 tangible book value (TBV). The "book value" of a company is defined as the value of assets minus...
This morning, Jeffries cut its target price on RIM to $12, down from $15. Every news source out there seems to be just quoting a few sentences from it. And who could blame them? There isn't much in the report to go on. I've read it and I'll tell you what it says, along with my take. First of all, you have to realize that certain analysts on the Street have a habit of trying to...
In the last week we've seen two significant stories that further suggest RIM is losing what was once its iron-clad grip on corporate IT departments. The giant energy company Halliburton, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are both said to be giving up BlackBerry deployments in favor of Apple's iPhone and iPad. In fact, in the case of NOAA, an official...
RIM's new CEO, Thorsten Heins, has been a busy guy doing media interviews over the last couple of weeks. But yesterday he took some time to chat with Bay Street sell-side analysts in Toronto who cover the stock. What did he say? We've had a chance to read through some notes from analysts who attended and here are the big points: He is acutely aware of the weakness in RIM's...
BBDoodle: RIM's New CEO Thorstein Heins rallies the RIM troops... "Lets Rock & Roll This!" One of the most common bear arguments on RIM over the last couple of years has been that the BlackBerry brand would lose momentum in the US market. Unquestionably, this has proven to be true. ComScore's latest results show that RIM has 6.5% of the US mobile phone market. This is down...
Tonight, both CrackBerry Nation and Wall Street have some pretty exciting news to mull over. Mike and Jim have stepped down as Co-CEOs, and the board has acted on their suggested succession path by naming Thorsten Heins as the new CEO. Not only is Thorsten the youngest looking 54 year old I've ever met, but he's still pretty darn close to being fresh blood in my books. Personally, I...
RIM's Q3 conference call was another train wreck last night. Sure, they hit their reduced guidance numbers (updated December 2nd). Sure, they were profitable and managed to grow their subscriber base. But the bad news just keeps stacking up. I've paid attention to the feedback from the other articles I've written at CrackBerry, and I know people value a balanced opinion. So I'd...
Previously on Mobile Nations, Kevin told you all about our new network brand, and I had the honor of introducing Mobile Nations Broadcasting and the new Girls Gone Gadgets show. We've also been hard at work behind the scenes as well. We've now got Mobile Nations United feed for both audio and video so you can get all your favorite shows, all in one place. Speaking of video, we've set...