BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion’s stock is down nearly 6 percent in after-hours trading after coming short of analysts’ expectations for Q4 ended Feb. 27.
Still, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s revenues increased 35 percent compared to the year ago period and the company insists that it is seeing strong momentum in the current quarter. In Q4, RIM’s net income totaled $710.1 million, or $1.27 a share, on revenues of $4.08 billion. Analysts expected RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) to earn $1.28 a share on revenues of $4.31 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
For fiscal 2010, RIM’s revenues totaled nearly $15 billion, up 35 percent from the prior year, and had profits of $2.46 billion. Jim Balsillie, RIM’s Co-CEO, said: “We are off to a great start in fiscal 2011 and expect strong shipments, revenue, subscriber and earnings growth in Q1. We are also very excited about our portfolio of products and services for the coming year and we continue to see exceptional opportunity for sustained growth.”
Other figures:
—RIM shipped about 37 million devices in fiscal 2010 and about 10.5 million devices in Q4.
—About 4.9 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added in the quarter.
—BlackBerry’s subscriber account base now exceeds more than 41 million.
—RIM says that in Q1, it expects revenues to range between $4.25 and $4.45 billion.
—Q1 net subscriber additions in Q1 are expected to range between 4.9-5.2 million.
—Q1 earnings per share is expected to fall between $1.31 and $1.38 a share.
Balsillie was a little more illustrative on the earnings call, however, was careful not to let anything that hasn’t been announced slip. “I can’t talk about what’s not announced,” he said, but added “if you saw the road map, you’d be blown away.” At Mobile World Congress, the company showed off its new browser that is based on Webkit standards, which are also used by Apple’s Safari and Google’s Android. Balsilie said some of the new things could be revealed as soon as April, and that they could be talked about more on the next conference call in June, but new products would be trickling out all year. As for missing financial targets and disappointing analysts, he said: “You have to be careful about one-time events or inventory adjustments, so that you don’t misconstrue it…I love our road map and our plans—you’ll see it all in play really really soon.”