After BlackBerry (BBRY) announced that it had won at least $815M through a binding arbitration judgment, a number of analysts were more upbeat about the company’s outlook.
NEWS: This morning, BlackBerry announced that it had won an $814.87M binding arbitration judgment against Qualcomm (QCOM). BlackBerry alleged that Qualcomm had overcharged it for royalties and the Canadian company indicated that it could be awarded additional compensation for interest and attorneys’ fees.
ANALYST REACTION: Canaccord analyst T. Michael Walkey increased his price target on BlackBerry to $9.50 from $8, saying the funds that BlackBerry obtained will bolster its balance sheet and increase the chances that it will make acquisitions in an effort to boost its growth. However, the analyst remains uncertain about whether BlackBerry’s multiple software initiatives will be successful, and he kept a Hold rating on the stock. TD Securities analyst Daniel Chan believes that BlackBerry will probably use its newfound cash for M&A and internal investments. BlackBerry would benefit from any acquisitions that would increase the size of its Internet of Things sales force, and the company could also use the cash to increase the size of its internal sales team, Chan believes. The analyst says that BlackBerry could benefit by creating a security solution for cars, as he thinks that IT security will become increasingly important to the automotive industry, especially after autonomous cars are deployed. Meanwhile, BlackBerry’s recovery is “progressing well,” according to the analyst, who kept a $10 price target and a Buy rating on the shares. Following the news, Scotiabank upgraded BlackBerry to Outperform from Sector Perform. Additionally, CIBC analyst Todd Coupland raised his rating on the company to Neutral from Underperform with a $10 price target set on the shares.
PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, BlackBerry jumped nearly 16% to $8.91 per share.
Leave A Comment