BlackBerry took a beating on Wall Street after posting an unexpected loss and declining to provide specific smartphone sales numbers, troublesome signs that the company's crucial turnaround isn't going as planned.
The Canadian device maker lost $84 million during its fiscal first quarter and lost 4 million subscribers. Analysts were also disappointed by the company's projections for another operating loss in the current quarter.
BlackBerry shares plummeted 28%, or $4.02, to $10.46.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins cautioned analysts during an earnings call that "transition takes time."
"Today, if you look at BlackBerry, we are a leaner, more efficient company," Heins said. "We are confident in the ongoing success of our transformation in the coming years. We are doing the right thing."
It was a pivotal period for BlackBerry, the first full quarter since debuting the BlackBerry 10 operating system. But the numbers indicated that the former industry leader is still struggling to revamp its image and catch up to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Android devices.
"I can't imagine anyone is happy with BlackBerry performance except maybe BlackBerry competitors," said Jeff Kagan, a technology industry analyst. "To tell you the truth, hopes are dimmed by this first-quarter performance."
For the three months that ended June 1, BlackBerry reported a loss of $84 million, or 16 cents a share, on revenue of $3.1 billion. Adjusted for one-time events, BlackBerry lost $67 million, or 13 cents.
Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of 8 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion, according to consensus estimates by Bloomberg.
During the same quarter last year, BlackBerry posted a loss of $518 million, or 99 cents a share, on revenue of $2.8 billion.
BlackBerry said it shipped 6.8 million smartphones during the quarter, which includes BlackBerry 10 devices and older models. That was down from 7.8 million in the year-earlier period.
About 40% of the smartphones it shipped were BlackBerry 10 devices, although the company didn't break out numbers by specific smartphone model. The company shipped just 100,000 PlayBook tablets during the quarter and said it would abandon plans to upgrade it to run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system.
"Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy looking at solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to PlayBook," Heins said, "but unfortunately, I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience and I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts."
The tone and numbers in Friday's earnings report came in stark contrast to the promotional hype and glowing comments made by BlackBerry executives since the debut of BlackBerry 10 in January.
Once again, BlackBerry's global subscriber base decreased, now to 72 million. That crucial number has been on a downward spiral recently: Last quarter, the company said it had 76 million subscribers, down from 79 million in the previous quarter and 80 million in the three months before that.
The decline of 4 million subscribers during the quarter reflected decreases in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, BlackBerry Chief Financial Officer Brian Bidulka said in a call with analysts. The company saw increases in the Asia-Pacific market.
BlackBerry this month released its much-anticipated Q10 smartphone in the U.S. featuring its signature Qwerty physical keyboard. Amid rumors that the touch-screen-only Z10 was not selling well — BlackBerry hasn't provided hard sales numbers — the company desperately needs consumers to flock to the Q10.
Both phones are running BlackBerry 10, a completely revamped operating system that debuted early this year after months of delays. The new OS allows for separate work and personal profiles, eliminates the need for a home button and makes multitasking across apps simple.
Looking ahead, the company warned that it expected to see an operating loss for the current quarter. It also declined to provide projections for how many BlackBerry 10 or total devices it expected to sell in the current quarter.
"It's a very competitive, very volatile market. So many dynamics going on here," Heins said. "So it is really, really hard to predict, even with a three-month outlook, where we're going to be."
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Twitter: @byandreachang
The Canadian device maker lost $84 million during its fiscal first quarter and lost 4 million subscribers. Analysts were also disappointed by the company's projections for another operating loss in the current quarter.
BlackBerry shares plummeted 28%, or $4.02, to $10.46.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins cautioned analysts during an earnings call that "transition takes time."
"Today, if you look at BlackBerry, we are a leaner, more efficient company," Heins said. "We are confident in the ongoing success of our transformation in the coming years. We are doing the right thing."
It was a pivotal period for BlackBerry, the first full quarter since debuting the BlackBerry 10 operating system. But the numbers indicated that the former industry leader is still struggling to revamp its image and catch up to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Android devices.
"I can't imagine anyone is happy with BlackBerry performance except maybe BlackBerry competitors," said Jeff Kagan, a technology industry analyst. "To tell you the truth, hopes are dimmed by this first-quarter performance."
For the three months that ended June 1, BlackBerry reported a loss of $84 million, or 16 cents a share, on revenue of $3.1 billion. Adjusted for one-time events, BlackBerry lost $67 million, or 13 cents.
Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of 8 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion, according to consensus estimates by Bloomberg.
During the same quarter last year, BlackBerry posted a loss of $518 million, or 99 cents a share, on revenue of $2.8 billion.
BlackBerry said it shipped 6.8 million smartphones during the quarter, which includes BlackBerry 10 devices and older models. That was down from 7.8 million in the year-earlier period.
About 40% of the smartphones it shipped were BlackBerry 10 devices, although the company didn't break out numbers by specific smartphone model. The company shipped just 100,000 PlayBook tablets during the quarter and said it would abandon plans to upgrade it to run on the BlackBerry 10 operating system.
"Our teams have spent a great deal of time and energy looking at solutions that could move the BlackBerry 10 experience to PlayBook," Heins said, "but unfortunately, I am not satisfied with the level of performance and user experience and I made the difficult decision to stop these efforts."
The tone and numbers in Friday's earnings report came in stark contrast to the promotional hype and glowing comments made by BlackBerry executives since the debut of BlackBerry 10 in January.
Once again, BlackBerry's global subscriber base decreased, now to 72 million. That crucial number has been on a downward spiral recently: Last quarter, the company said it had 76 million subscribers, down from 79 million in the previous quarter and 80 million in the three months before that.
The decline of 4 million subscribers during the quarter reflected decreases in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, BlackBerry Chief Financial Officer Brian Bidulka said in a call with analysts. The company saw increases in the Asia-Pacific market.
BlackBerry this month released its much-anticipated Q10 smartphone in the U.S. featuring its signature Qwerty physical keyboard. Amid rumors that the touch-screen-only Z10 was not selling well — BlackBerry hasn't provided hard sales numbers — the company desperately needs consumers to flock to the Q10.
Both phones are running BlackBerry 10, a completely revamped operating system that debuted early this year after months of delays. The new OS allows for separate work and personal profiles, eliminates the need for a home button and makes multitasking across apps simple.
Looking ahead, the company warned that it expected to see an operating loss for the current quarter. It also declined to provide projections for how many BlackBerry 10 or total devices it expected to sell in the current quarter.
"It's a very competitive, very volatile market. So many dynamics going on here," Heins said. "So it is really, really hard to predict, even with a three-month outlook, where we're going to be."
[email protected]
Twitter: @byandreachang