DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Waterloo, Ont.-based Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) reported record third-quarter revenue and a positive start to the fourth quarter, prompting a roughly 2% rise in its shares in after-hours trading.
RIM closed at $38.44 on the Nasdaq Thursday, but is trading at roughly $39 in off-hours trading.
Net earnings were $396.3 million or 69 cents a share in the latest quarter compared with year-earlier earnings of $370.5 million or 65 cents a share.
Adjusted profit was $477.3 million or 83 cents a share and excludes a negative impact on RIM's tax rate due to the depreciation of the Canadian dollar in the third quarter.
The Thomson Reuters mean earnings estimate for the third quarter was 83 cents a share.
Revenue rose to $2.78 billion from $1.67 billion a year earlier, below the Thomson Reuters estimate of $2.81 billion.
Earlier this month, the smartphone maker issued an earnings warning for the third quarter, predicting that adjusted profit would total 81-83 cents a share, net earnings would total 67-71 cents a share, and revenue would range from $2.75-$2.78 billion. It had previously forecast third-quarter net earnings of 89-97 cents a share and revenue of $2.95-$3.10 billion.
In its warning, it cited the depreciation of certain currencies relative to the U.S. dollar in the third quarter as well as lower-than-estimated unit shipments of existing products, which RIM said reflects general economic weakness in the U.S. and missed product launch dates in the quarter.
As reported, RIM's Bold smartphone hit store shelves in November, months after it was originally expected, and RIM's launch of the touch-screen Storm, its answer to Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone, was plagued by limited initial supplies that left some consumers waiting weeks for new stock to arrive.
Nonetheless, the company said its new products "are being adopted at an even faster pace than we expected. Our industry-leading product portfolio is positioned well to capitalize on the increasing market opportunity in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and beyond."
Net subscriber additions were 2.6 million in the quarter, in line with RIM's forecast of 2.6 million. Roughly 1.65 million BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.
The company announced fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $3.30-$3.50 billion, with net subscriber account additions expected to total about 2.9 million. It forecast earnings of 83 cents to 91 cents a share, based on a gross margin of 40-41%.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected fourth-quarter revenue to come to $2.98 billion and earnings to reach 83 cents a share.
Fellow electronics manufacturers have noted slowing demand, with Palm Inc. (PALM), the maker of Treo and Centro smartphones, issuing a warning at the beginning of the month that its already depressed sales would fall sharply below expectations. Bellwether Nokia Corp., which makes nearly 40% of the world's cellphones, warned in mid-November of weak holiday demand for its products and said it expected the global market to shrink as consumers hold back on upgrading their phones amid the recession.
RIM said, however, that despite the challenging general economic conditions, it has "entered the fourth quarter with strong momentum," recording the "best-ever start to the holiday buying season over the past few weeks."
-Tara Zachariah, Dow Jones NewsWires; 416-306-2100
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Publié le 18 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones