RIMM BlackBerry 'Torch' Goes On sale

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Research In Motion~~ RIMM UPDATE

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Research In Motion's BlackBerry service will continue in Saudi Arabia, sources told CNBC Arabia Wednesday. Earlier, CNBC had learned the dispute between Saudi Arabia and RIM regarding the security of the service was getting close to a resolution. A number of banks and financial institutions in Saudi Arabia began informing their employees that they had received notice from the Saudi Telecommunications Company STC about the complete suspension of Blackberry services as of next Friday morning.
But now the situation has been defused, sources told CNBC Arabia.
"Based on the STC Feedback, Blackberry services will be continued until further notice," a company source said. ...read more

From CNBC's Half-Time Report :
What’s the trade? I don’t care what Saudi Arabia does with BlackBerry and I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for India to ban BlackBerry, says Zach Karabell. I expect RIM as well as Apple, and the new Android to dominate this space going forward.... for the record ..on my BlackBerry today, I bought more shares of Blackberry....

I got out of my position in RIM, reveals Joe Terranova. I think there are better places to put money. I wouldn't short though...

Blackberry's Torch: RIMM Update

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Research in Motion introduced its first touchscreen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard in New York on Tuesday, in a push to stem the growing popularity of rival phones from Apple and Google.

Fast Money Chimes In On RIMM

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Research In Motion (RIMM) : UPDATE

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RIMM's Blackberry devices may be banned in the United Arab Emirates. These regional sales represent 2% of RIMM's sales, expect some sort of resolution to develope, neither sides wants to stop service. Somebody is going to give in, but use the stock pullback to buy or add to RIMM shares. News coming this week on the launch of a new OS & products should rally this stock further.

RIMM Rolls The Dice

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Back on June 27th Itz posted the following >>LINK
Research in Motion (RIMM) reported Thursday, beating on earnings per share but disappointing on revenue and sales. The stock took a big hit - falling below the support level of $55. The company now needs to bring to market it's new OS & touch screen products and compete with Apple & Android phones if it expects to recoup it's share price. The valuation is half of Apple's but many investors believe it cannot compete as it once did. I'm giving them one more quarter to prove if they have what it takes. Don't count them out just yet...
Past rating changes from analysts LINK

link

Analysts Lower Price Target For Research In Motion (RIMM)

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Below is a report from Barron's Tech Trader Daily link

Research In Motion: The Street Is Getting Increasingly Worried ~ By Eric Savitz

Research In Motion (RIMM) shares are going to lose considerable ground today after the company provided a May quarter earnings report that the Street did not like very much. While the company reported EPS that beat estimates, and gross margin exceeded expectations, the company missed at the top line, and came in at the bottom of the guidance range on both units sold and new subscribers added. Further irritating matters, the company said that it has significant new phones coming in the current quarter, but gave few details. But RIMM is not Apple; rather than adding intrigue, the lack of information makes investors in the company even more anxious about the ability of the BlackBerry to hold market share in an increasingly competitive smart phone sector.

Here’s a quick round-up of some of what the Street is saying about the stock this morning:

James Faucette, Pacific Crest: “The increased competitive environment is beginning to inflict measurable tolls, including rapidly falling replacement rates and a flattening of international shipment growth,” he writes. “We believe the replacement rate has fallen precipitously over the past two quarters while international growth has flattened…Unless the company is able to at least maintain share at the high end of the mobile phone market, it will see rapid margin deterioration. Meanwhile, early previews of the new products have pointed to less revolutionary improvements.” He keeps his Sector Perform rating, but warns that “risks mount.”
Simona Jankowski, Goldman Sachs: She repeats her Sell rating. “RIM has now missed top-line expectations for three of the last four quarters, in our view demonstrating the building competitive pressures on its business from the iPhone and more recently from Android,” she writes. “We estimate that net subscriber additions in North America declined on a sequential basis, which we attribute primarily to the success of Android-based phones, such as the Motorola Droid and the HTC Incredible at Verizon.”

Jim Suva, Citigroup: Repeats his Sell rating, while cutting his target to $50, from $55. “May could very well mark the peak quarter for RIMM’s EPS,” he contends. “While almost all other technology companies are facing decreasing EPS growth rates, we believe RIMM will soon face declining EPS.”

William Power, Baird: Cuts rating to Neutral from Outperform; target cut to $59, from $88. “Based on our store visit findings and product roadmaps, we expect further share gains from Android-based devices, as well as the iPhone,” he writes. “New BlackBerry devices should help, but we increasingly fear it may be too little too late to turn the tide in the U.S. Despite what appears to be an attractive valuation level, we expect competitive concerns to continue to overhang the shares.”

Matthew Sheerin, Thomas Weisel Partners: Maintains Overweight rating, but cuts target to $82, from $94. “Given its recent track record…we can see why many investors remain skeptical, especially in light of continued competition from Apple and increased pressure from the Android camps. Still, while we are taking a more conservative stance on unit and margin assumptions, and thus trimming our forward estimates, the stock appears still quite inexpensive.”

Phil Cusick, Macquarie: Keep Neutral rating, but cuts target to $72, from $80. “We expect to see a new slider device, an OS refresh and possibly a tablet device in [the 2010 calendar second half], but expect shares to remain range-bound until investors can see what [CEO] Jim [Balsillie] sees to gain confidence that high-end products can stabilize metrics.”

Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital: Maintains the stock’s Top Pick status, but cuts target to $90, from $120. “The onus is on RIM to execute and regain investor confidence; we expect valuation to remain rangebound near term on competitive concerns, but for sentiment to improve with rising visibility to improved competitive position and execution,” he writes. “We are trimming our target to reflect market revaluation of RIM’s stock into a peer group of handset vendors facing similar pressures.”

Ittai Kidron, Oppenheimer: Maintains Outperform rating, but asserts that “If RIMM stumbles, we see a long, unattractive journey of playing catch-up.”

Kulbinder Garcha, Credit Suisse: Keeps Outperform rating, but cuts target to $75, from $100. He asserts that falling prices will be offset in the months ahead by accelerating sales volumes.

Brian Modoff, Deutsche Bank: Keep his Hold rating, cuts target to $65, from $75. “The company has yet to address the growing gap in functionality between the Blackberry and true smart phones,” he writes. “While there is still time for them to come up with something new, we see growing interest from consumers in more capable platforms. Moreover, we see many signs of growing enterprise interest as well, threatening RIMM’s core customer base with time.”

RIMM Reports

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BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) on Thursday posted a 20% increase in first-quarter profit, but sales and handset shipments fell below Wall Street's forecast. READ MORE>> updated news

The smartphone sector has become even more competitive with Apple & Android based phones. RIM continues to maintain a 70% share of the IT market, but many believe that Apple & Android phones are taking market share. However, RIM  plans on introducing new products incorporating touch screen and a new OS.  Itz believes that the smartphone market has room for competition and of the top companies, RIMM presents the best valuation.
Lets just do a side by side comparison of Apple to Research in Motion:

                          RIMM:                                AAPL:
EPS                     $3.96                                     $11.80
P/E                      15.06                                      22.96
Forward P/E        10.79                                      19.70
5 year EPS
Growth                18.98%                                   17.8%
Profit Margin          17.1%                                   19.2%
Cash Flow Margin 19.8%                                   20.98%
Price/Cash Flow     15.41                                    27.40
Price/Sales              3.05                                      5.75

RIMM Move On Apple & Google

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While Apple and Google have been getting the lion's share of attention in the smartphone world of late, Research In Motion isn't going quietly, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal reports that RIM has a new touchscreen version of its BlackBerry smartphone up its sleeve... >>READ MORE

Research In Motion (RIMM) : UPDATE

A few hours after Itz previous Research In Motion blog post the news came out as follows;
RIM’s Mike Lazaridis has today offered some teasing information on the upcoming BlackBerry OS 6.0. He has promised that the OS will work better with touchscreen devices while maintaining support for trackpad devices. The WebKit-based browser will obviously be an important feature on the next-generation OS as web browsing is becoming increasingly important. Current BlackBerry devices have a chance of being upgraded to OS 6.0, though obviously not all of them will get the update. The updated OS should be released this summer, but t hasn’t been confirmed if there will be a new phone released in conjunction with BlackBerry OS 6.0.
The long awaited new operating system, described by Mr Lazaridis as one of the biggest overhauls in years, is a clear attempt by RIM to address the concerns of some BlackBerry users and position RIM to compete more effectively against rival smartphone manufacturers including Apple, HTC and Motorola. >>READ MORE

As to new functionality, he said RIM set out to “fix the things that people wanted to see fixed,” he said, quashing rumors of an entirely new look and feel. The new OS will be “very familiar to anyone who’s used the BlackBerry,” he added.

But there will be some significant, and overdue, updates. They include a real Internet browser that can show Web pages as they would look on a computer, a customizable home screen with a digital clock a la HTC Android, tile shortcuts to music, the Web and e-mail like the iPhone and a broader focus on BlackBerry App World widgets that can be downloaded over the air and are either billed to the carrier or paid via credit card. An overhauled music player will take a page from the iPhone too, and will display album art.

In short, BlackBerry is adding table-stakes smartphone functionality that consumers have come to expect out of their iPhones and Android devices. new phones

RIMM: Chart, Fundamentals Suggest Bargain---BUY!

Carter Worth was on CNBC's Fast Money giving his 'Chartology' on RIMM. He noted a 'wedge' formation, I agree, but there's also a channel formation. Carter pointed out the 150- day moving average..about $68, Itz believes RIMM could see $66, but the trend is higher. Back in December the gap up should of been faded. This time the gap down should be used to add or buy. The valuations suggest RIMM is 'CHEAP'.

When looking at the market's historical valuation of RIMM, we can demonstrate further reasoning why it is price to deliver above average returns. For example, RIMM has normally traded for a price-to-cash earnings multiple of 15.3x to 43.4x, but the current metric falls below that range at 14.8x. Similarly, with a price-to-sales ratio of 2.61x, the stock looks rather undervalued compared to the historically normal range of 3.43x to 10.44x. Now, to be clear, we would not expect Research in Motion to achieve anywhere near the top end of those historical valuation ranges, but if it were able to meet the bottom end of the ranges, based on current fundamentals, we would expect a price of $86 per share. >>READ MORE

Previous Itz Stock Chartz RIMM post...read

Research In Motion Earnings

After Wednesday's close RIMM reported sharply higher earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter but its stock dropped because its revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations. [AHT @ 8pm $70.50] For the three months that ended Feb. 27, RIM earned $710 million, or $1.27 per share [up 37 percent from a year earlier], expectation called for $1.28. However... revenue of $4.08B, while rising 18 percent over the same period a year earlier, was short of the $4.31B expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.For the company's current quarter that ends May 29, RIM said it expects earnings per share of $1.31 to $1.38, above analyst expectations.

"We guided a really strong Q1 based on just what is going on now," CEO Jim Balsillie said referring to product launch plans. "If you saw the roadmap you'd be blown away."

Management blamed reductions in inventories held by wireless carriers and lower-than-expected average selling prices for the phones. Those prices are expected to remain low until RIM introduces new BlackBerry models later in the year. In the conference call RIM announced it is developing a new browser and new tools for outside programmers to write software applications that work on BlackBerrys. The browser and apps are two areas in which RIM lags behind Apple. The company benefited from strong international sales during the quarter. International sales accounted for 48% of total revenue for the period. But these markets prefer lower-priced handsets, such as the Curve. Gross margin for the fourth quarter came in at 45.7% -- higher than many analysts were expecting. RIMM appears to be gaining share on an international level, and possibly losing share on a North American basis.

Research In Motion Limited F4Q10 (Qtr End 02/28/2010) Earnings Call Transcript >>LINK

Below is a chart with actual eps & estimated eps along with a trend channel.

Research In Motion (RIMM) Update

As Research In Motion approaches earning this Wednesday, news that Apple (AAPL) will launch an iPhone this summer and also is working on a model compatible with Verizon Wireless' (VZ) CDMA architecture, said a published report citing sources. Apple and Verizon rose late. Research In Motion (RIMM) and AT&T (T) fell.>>Read  
Should be an interesting next few days, lets not forget that RIMM is big in China, not to mention PALM has lost its stride. RIMM is in their niche business enterprise segment, Apple is seen more as a consumer product. Looks like the three horsemen will be Research in Motion, Apple & Android.
Despite intense competition in the smartphone market, Research In Motion Ltd. is expected to maintain its strong pace of double-digit earnings growth when it reports results for its fourth fiscal quarter this week. >>Read
This past Friday, JP Morgan upgraded Research in Motion Limited to “overweight” (basically a buy) from “neutral” (basically a hold). Analysts expressed bullishness toward the smartphone sector, saying 2010 “will be the first year for true mass-market adoption of mobile computers.” This trend could bode well for RIMM, parent of the BlackBerry device. The banking giant also adjusted its 12-month price target on RIMM by 20% to $84 from $70.
Over the last several months Itz has repeatedly pointed out the bargain valuation that RIMM has presented.
RIMM will report earnings on Wednesday after the close, and analysts estimate per-share results of $1.28.

Suggest using any pullback to buy or add. Jan. 26, 2010 post...READ  March 23, 2010 post....READ

From CNBC: Peter Misek of Canaccord Adams tells Fast Money that according to his sources Apple is about to ink a deal with Verizon; confirming a published report.