Research In Motion Ltd.’s stock faltered again following the company’s third-quarter results, with investors expecting a more bullish fourth-quarter outlook from the company. Some analysts, however, continued to remain relatively positive on the BlackBerry maker and its prospects despite the company’s lower-than-expected forecasts and legal troubles.
RIM’s stock fell around 5 percent to about $82.67 per share in trading after the company released its third-quarter earnings. The hit comes shortly after a similar share-price decline following a federal appeals court ruling that painted a somewhat gloomy outlook in RIM’s legal battle with patent holding company NTP Inc. The court affirmed part of NTP’s case, but sent several remaining claims back to a district court for further rulings.
For its part, RIM maintained a confident attitude in its third-quarter announcement.
“RIM and its partners completed an extremely active quarter with a wide range of new product introductions and regional launches around the world,” said Jim Balsillie, the company’s chairman and co-chief executive officer. “Solid subscriber growth topped the 2 million mark during the quarter, and we are steadily scaling our business to broaden customer reach further with the addition of new carrier partnerships, new product offerings and new application extensions.”
Shortly after the third-quarter news, both Goldman Sachs and ThinkEquity issued optimistic notes to investors. ThinkEquity rates the company as a “buy,” while Goldman Sachs gives it an “outperform/neutral.”
“While the pundits will point to a lackluster guidance for the February quarter, we believe that there remains enough strength in global BlackBerry demand and new channels, products and services to drive continuing long-term growth,” ThinkEquity wrote.
Both firms make a market in RIM securities.
RIM reported third-quarter revenues of $365.9 million, up 18 percent from the $310.2 million it reported in the previous quarter and way up from its $153.9 million in the same quarter of last year. The company clocked net income of $90.4 million, up from the $70.6 million in the previous quarter and $16.3 million in the same quarter last year. RIM would have reported a net income of $114.9 million for the third quarter, but it put $24.6 million away due to the NTP lawsuit.
RIM said it expects fourth-quarter revenues of between $390 million and $410 million. An average of 16 analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected $412 million. RIM said it expects its first-quarter revenues to be between $430 million and $455 million.
During its third quarter, RIM reported more than 2 million total subscribers and new carrier offerings from Sprint, Dobson Communications, Cable & Wireless, Vodafone in Portugal and Australia, BT in Europe, E-Plus in Germany, KPN in the Netherlands, Proximus in Belgium, Polska Telefonica Cyfrowa in Poland, China Mobile, Globe Telecom in Philippines, Airtel in India, and MTN and Vodacom in South Africa.
