BlackBerry Earnings Only Look Good Because They’re Not Awful

Telecom & Wireless

Published: March 28, 2014 8:45 am

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BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) reported fourth-quarter and full-year fiscal 2014 earnings before markets opened Friday morning. The smartphone maker reported an adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) loss of $0.08 on revenues of $976 million. In the same period a year ago, BlackBerry reported EPS of $0.22 on revenue of $2.7 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to consensus estimates for an EPS loss of $0.55 and $1.11 billion in revenue.

For the full fiscal year, Blackberry posted an EPS loss of $1.35 on revenues of $6.8 billion compared with an EPS loss of $0.60 on revenues of $11.07 billion in the previous year. The consensus estimates called for an EPS loss of $1.80 on revenues of $6.95 billion.

On a GAAP basis, the quarterly EPS loss totaled $0.80 and the full-year EPS loss totaled $11.18.

Shares are getting a boost from the lower-than-expected losses, and investors seem to be paying to attention to the top-line miss. Quarterly revenues are down 64% year over year and down 18% sequentially. Of that revenue, 37% came from hardware sales, 56% from sales of services and the rest from software and other sales.

BlackBerry said it sold 3.4 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, of which 2.3 million were BlackBerry 7 devices. The company’s new BB 10 operating system and hardware have not taken the company’s customers by storm. This could indicate that sales of the older model phones are a function of very low pricing in developed markets and even lower pricing in emerging markets. That would also account for the sharp drop in revenues.

For the company’s 2015 fiscal year, the company only said that it anticipates maintaining its strong cash position and continuing to look for opportunities to streamline operations. BlackBerry expects to break even on cash flow results by the end of the new fiscal year.

The company’s CEO, turnaround star John Chen, said:

I am very pleased with our progress and execution in fiscal Q4 against the strategy we laid out three months ago. We have significantly streamlined operations, allowing us to reach our expense reduction target one quarter ahead of schedule. BlackBerry is on sounder financial footing today with a path to returning to growth and profitability.

Adjusted gross margins in the fourth quarter were 43%, and the adjusted pretax loss from continuing operations totaled $557 million. On an adjusted basis, gross margins rose from 34% in the first quarter to 36%. That is the only good news.

The consensus estimates for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 call for an EPS loss of $0.38 on revenues of $1.11 billion. For the full year, analysts expect an EPS loss of $1.29 on revenues of $4.16 billion.

Shares were up about 7.4% in premarket trading, at $9.74 in a 52-week range of $5.44 to $16.59. The consensus analyst price target was around $7.75 before the results were announced.

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