BlackBerry Cobbler, Anyone?
What a disappointing report from Research in Motion. For its fiscal second quarter, the BlackBerry maker posted sales and an outlook that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Earnings slipped by four percent, with RIM (RIMM) making $475.6 million, or 83 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, however, RIM earned $1.03 per share on sales of $3.53 billion, compared with 86 cents per share on sales of $2.58 billion in the same period last year. The Street had expected the company to turn in a profit of $1 per share on sales of $3.62 billion, according to a consensus from Thomson Reuters. RIM also shipped slightly fewer devices than analysts had hoped. The company said it sold about 8.3 million BlackBerry devices during the quarter, adding about 3.8 million new subscribers. Analysts had expected the company to add about 4 million new subscribers on shipments between 8.5 million and 8.6 million.
Looking ahead, RIM gave a per-share earnings outlook of between $1 and $1.08 for its third quarter, compared with a $1.05-per-share average expected by analysts.
Suffice it to say, investors are not pleased. RIM’s shares are down about 10 percent in extended trading as I write this.