Research In Motion Ltd. is trading up more 12 percent at $66.71 per share-surpassing its previous 52-week high by $4-following the release of earnings for first-quarter 2005 that exceeded analyst expectations.
Revenue totaled $269.6 million, up 28 percent from the previous quarter and up a whopping 158 percent from a year ago. RIM said it garnered 68 percent of its revenue from handhelds, 19 percent from service and 9 percent from software licenses, while 4 percent fell into other categories.
The company said it added 270,000 BlackBerry subscribers during the quarter, driving the total number of BlackBerry customers to 1.34 million.
Net income stood at $55 million, or 28 cents per share, vs. $41.5 million, or 23 cents per share, in the previous quarter.
As a result of the positive earnings, RIM raised its guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2005. The company now expects revenue to reach between $290 million and $310 million, with earnings per share ranging from 32 cents to 37 cents.
For the third quarter of fiscal 2005, the company predicts revenue will fall between $340 million and $360 million, and earnings per share will be 35 cents to 40 cents.
In other RIM news, Cable & Wireless said it will offer the BlackBerry wireless platform to customers in Jamaica, and Smart Communications introduced two new BlackBerry handhelds in the Philippines.
Cable & Wireless will offer the BlackBerry 7280, a tri-band device with a color screen, international roaming capabilities and combined e-mail, data and phone capabilities.
Smart plans to offer the BlackBerry 7230 and the BlackBerry 7730. Both Java-based devices support international roaming on GSM/GPRS networks and have color screens. The 7730 features a large screen, while the 7230 has a compact design.
RIM also recently announced another new partnership and the expansion of its relationship with Vodafone Group plc.
RIM announced Blackberry Enterprise Server support for Novell’s GroupWise v6.5 e-mail applications, planned to coincide with the release of RIM’s Blackberry Enterprise Server v4, scheduled for later this year.
“We are very pleased to expand the enterprise market opportunity to include the millions of GroupWise users that represent roughly 12 percent of the market today,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and co-chief executive officer at RIM. “Addressing Novell’s significant presence in the marketplace, particularly in government, legal and healthcare sectors, BlackBerry will provide GroupWise users with the productivity and freedom of wireless connectivity while IT departments will be able to leverage the security, reliability, manageability and scalability of the BlackBerry platform.”
In addition, RIM announced Vodafone Ireland has launched the BlackBerry wireless solution for corporate users, featuring the BlackBerry 7230 wireless handheld. The device provides integrated support for phone, e-mail, intranet, Internet, short message service and organizer applications, as well as a high-resolution color screen and customized user interface.
