By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) shares fell a sharp 9% Wednesday after the company’s February quarter revenue came in below expectations.
BlackBerry matched estimates with adjusted quarterly earnings of 3 cents per share. But revenue of $210 million for the quarter was down 25% from a year ago. The net loss of $315 million was more than seven times from a year ago.
The company blamed its ongoing negotiations for a potential sale of a part of its portfolio for the dip in revenue.
The sale involves part of the patent portfolio relating primarily to mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking, the company said.
The takeaways from the earnings announcement impressed Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley, who upgraded BlackBerry to hold from sell, revising its target for the stock to $9.
Should the sale of its licensing business happen, it could help unlock value and provide a capital infusion to drive accelerated software and services growth, Walkley said in a note. He expects software and services fundamentals to improve.