Is BlackBerry stock a buy? No, says RBC

Another update from RBC and another tepid assessment of BlackBerry’s (BlackBerrry Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials NYSE:BB) worthiness as an investment.

According to BestStocks, RBC analyst Paul Trieber issued a report maintaining his “Sector Perform” rating and one-year price target of $4.50 on the bealeagured Canadian plater.

BlackBerry stock, on the NYSE, closed down 86.5 cents to $4.68 on September 7 after the company released preliminary second quarter results that fell short of expectations.

On September 6, BlackBerry reported preliminary Q2, 2024 results, noting that revenue is estimated to be $132-million, down from the $168-million the company posted in the same period last year.

Notably, the company said Cyber Security revenue was expected to be just $80-million, down from $111-million in the second quarter of 2022.

“Like many software companies, our Cybersecurity business has experienced elongated sales cycles, particularly in BlackBerry’s core government vertical, where we have a strong market position,” argued CEO John Chen. “Given the product mix, delays in closing certain large deals are expected to impact revenue recognized in the quarter. However, we expect to close these deals this fiscal year and are therefore reiterating the full-year outlook for the Cybersecurity business unit given previously. Our IoT business unit continues to capitalize on its large market opportunity and multi-year secular tailwinds by securing new design wins at a strong rate. However, in the short term we are seeing some automakers shift the start of software development programs, as well as production schedules, and therefore we’ve revised our current year revenue outlook, but not our long-term targets.”