- Initially down premarket in response to its mixed FQ4 results, BlackBerry (BBRY) is now moving higher.
- Hardware (lower-margin) was 42% of revenue in FQ4 vs. 46% in FQ3; services was 47% vs. 46%, and software was 10% vs. an 8% FQ3 contribution for software/other. John Chen stated on the CC software revenue grew 24% Q/Q and 20% Y/Y - the company has previously forecast its software revenue will double in FY16 (ends Feb. '16), and its services revenue fall by 50%.
- Gross margin fell to 48.3% from FQ3's 51.7% and the year-ago period's 56.7%. Sales/marketing/admin spend fell 52% Y/Y to $172M, and R&D spend 46% to $134M.
- North American revenue -31% Y/Y to $205M; EMEA -31% to $283M; Latin America -53% to $60M; Asia-Pac -20% to $112M. End-user phone sales fell to 1.6M from FQ3's 1.9M and the year-ago period's 3.4M.
- BlackBerry's cash balance rose by $156M Q/Q to $3.27B, thanks partly to an $80M net gain on acquisitions/divestitures. Long-term debt stood at $1.7B. The company still expects to reach "sustainable non-GAAP profitability" at some point in FY16.
- Initial sell-side reactions are cautious. RBC (Sector Perform) notes services revenue fell 15% Q/Q, and thinks the drop "may continue to sustain lingering concerns about BlackBerry’s declining subscriber base.” Multiple analysts observe phone shipments (1.3M) missed estimates. Cowen (Market Perform): "The magnitude of the Hardware miss suggests smartphones may prove a less significant F2016 growth driver than expected."
- Prior BlackBerry earnings coverage