BlackBerry is back-berry

Picture this: You just got home, turned on the TV, and a new episode of Breaking Bad is airing. “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis is playing on the radio. You just achieved the euphoric high that only comes with winning a game of Brick Breaker. It’s the era of BlackBerry supremacy.

A lot has changed since then—sadly, our friend Brick Breaker is a relic of the past—but BlackBerry, the company, hasn’t gone quietly into that good night.

Sure, shares are down about 97% from their peak in June 2008. But today, BlackBerry surged 7.93% after it reported a great quarter for its…automotive software business?

• Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.06, up from the $0.03 a year ago and beating analyst projections of $0.05.
• Revenue reached $156 million, up 10% from the year prior and above analyst forecasts of $142.6 million.
• BlackBerry’s QNX division, which is its software business for cars and industrial machinery, saw 20% year over year revenue growth, and the company said its software is now installed in 275 million vehicles.

BlackBerry’s journey from hardware to software

BlackBerry has quietly transformed over the last decade from pre-smartphone accessory for yuppies to car software manufacturer.

Back in 2007, Apple came out with the iPhone, marking the beginning of the end for BlackBerry’s dominance. Android, too, hit the market in 2008, while BlackBerry struggled to adapt to the new smartphone era. Its share price plunged from an all-time high of $144.50 in 2008 to a low of $5.98 in 2013.

But that same year, the company hired John Chen as CEO. He enacted a new strategy: Instead of trying to win over the smartphone market, he pivoted the company to security software, which had always been a strength.

BlackBerry began to set itself for success in the auto software business by acquiring a company called QNX Software Systems back in 2010. By 2016, BlackBerry officially stopped making phones, and split its time between secure communications and real-time driving software—two areas where it’s been making headway ever since.

The transition has still been rocky, but management is ready to declare victory. While the company reported losses in 2022 and 2023, it has now posted three consecutive years of adjusted profits, according to Barron’s. And in even better news, the company projects revenue to land somewhere between $584 million and $611 million in fiscal year 2027, or up to 11% higher than in fiscal 2026, and above analyst expectations.

Current CEO John Giamatteo is celebrating today’s win: “We are no longer a company in transition,” he said in a statement.—LB