RIM Q1 Result Out

Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 was $3.42 billion, comparable with $3.46 billion in the previous quarter and up 53% from $2.24 billion in the same quarter of last year. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 81% for devices, 13% for service, 2% for software and 4% for other revenue. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 7.8 million devices.

Approximately 3.8 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, the total BlackBerry subscriber account base was approximately 28.5 million.

Stock is down 5% after the result.

The New Tour 9630

RIM rolled out its newest handset the Tour 9630, which has 3G capabilities and is said to be able to operate globally. The new handset will be sold at a price of $199.99, after rebates and on a two-year contract, in the US through Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel. The new model is said to be the company's answer to Apple's new 3GS iPhone.

RIM BUYS DASH

Research In Motion has acquired U.S.-based Dash Navigation, allowing the BlackBerry maker to provide real-time traffic information and its own GPS mapping solutions. There were few details available on the acquistion, confirmed yesterday by RIM. Dash Navigation was the maker of an Internet-connected GPS system, that provided traffic and destination information. The acquisition would allow RIM to improve on its GPSenabled smartphones.

JP Morgan Boosts Estimate

J.P. Morgan analyst Ehud Gelbaum raised his estimates and price target on Research In Motion (RIMM), while maintaining his Neutral rating on the stock.

Gelbaum, boosted his EPS estimate for the February 2010 fiscal year to $4.06 from $3.71; for FY 2011 his estimate is unchanged at $4.64. For the May quarter, his new estimate is 96 cents, up from 88 cents. His price target on the share is now $88, up from $74. The stock closed yesterday at $83.45.

Gelbaum writes in a research note that the higher EPS estimates reflects an upward revision in his expectations for both gross margins and devices sold for the latest quarter. His forecast on units shipped for the May quarter rises to 7.9 million from 7.7 million, "reflecting the ultra-lean channel inventories entering the quarter and the overall decent handset trends in Q2."

He also says the company could raise FY 2010 gross margin guidance from low 40s to the same 43%-44% range they forecast for Q1, given that "none of RIMM's soon-to-be-launched phones this year contain margin busting new components," unlike FY 2009 when the touch-screen Storm was introduced.

RIM Takes Over 1/3 Of Cell Phone Industry Profits

Although smart phones represent a small portion of all cell phones sold every year, when it comes to profit, RIM and Apples are going to take the majority in 2009.
RIM did the best on profit growth, increasing its estimated share of industry profits from 8% (2007) to 19% (2008) to 35% (2009). Apple’s share of industry operating profits went from 3% in 2007 to 20% in 2008 and to an estimated 31% in 2009.

Source: Tech Crunch