By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – BlackBerry stock (NYSE:BB) climbed 8% in Thursday’s premarket as demand for Internet of Things solutions helped its second-quarter revenue blow past expectations.
The IoT business grew by almost a third while the much-bigger cybersecurity solutions business showed resilience as revenue in the segment stayed at last year’s level.
Cloud-based services and companies offering devices have turned out to be major beneficiaries in the pandemic as corporates, governments and individuals look to strike balance between work-from-office and work-from-home. Demand for cyber security solutions has boomed as interested parties look to fortify their systems from hackers.
The strength in the software and services business helped to overcome the sluggishness in demand for its QNX software from automakers as the auto industry cut back production to tackle the extended shortage of chips.
The company warned that a drop in automobile production will continue to adversely affect the company in the next two quarters.
Second-quarter revenue fell to $175 million for the quarter ended Aug. 31, from $259 million a year earlier. Led by higher expenses, loss per share rose more than six-fold but still came ahead of expectations.