BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Shares Up 13.1% After Earnings Beat

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) was up 13.1% on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $3.41 and last traded at $3.37. Approximately 3,255,342 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 9,528,748 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.98.

The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.03. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 21.66% and a negative return on equity of 3.38%. The business had revenue of $143.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.84 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Securities upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackBerry has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3.60.

Insider Transactions at BlackBerry

In other news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 15,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.53, for a total value of $37,962.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,129 shares in the company, valued at $76,226.37. This represents a 33.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BB. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 36.2% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 130,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 34,615 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in BlackBerry by 7.5% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 130,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 9,156 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its holdings in BlackBerry by 39.0% in the 2nd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 1,315,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after purchasing an additional 369,283 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 508.1% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,144,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after buying an additional 956,690 shares during the period. Finally, Viewpoint Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.48% of the company’s stock.

BlackBerry Trading Up 23.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -14.76 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $2.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44.

About BlackBerry

BlackBerry Limited provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Cybersecurity, IoT, and Licensing and Other. The company offers CylanceENDPOINT, an integrated endpoint security solution; CylanceGUARD, a managed detection and response solution; CylanceEDGE, an AI-powered continuous authentication zero trust network access solution; CylanceINTELLIGENCE, a contextual cyber threat intelligence service; BlackBerry Dynamics offers a development platform and secure container for mobile applications; BlackBerry Workspaces a secure Enterprise File Sync and Share (EFSS) solution; BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Enterprise, an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging solution for messaging, voice and video; BlackBerry SecuSUITE is a certified, multi-OS voice and text messaging solution; BlackBerry AtHoc, a secure networked critical event management solution; and BlackBerry unified endpoint management (UEM) solutions.