Analyst cuts forecast for BlackBerry maker
Research In Motion is in the right place but at the wrong time. It's high-end handsets are what the people want, but they don't want them now.
Shares of Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry phones, fell Tuesday to their lowest levels since 2006 after a J.P. Morgan analyst cut his earnings forecasts due to the global economic crunch.
The stock fell $2.48, or 6.2 percent, to close at $37.32. Earlier, it went as low as $35.76. As late as June, the stock hit $148.13.
J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster kept his earnings estimate of 86 cents per share for the fiscal third quarter, which just ended, but lowered his estimate for the quarter ending in February by 2 cents to 83 cents per share.
For the next fiscal year, which starts in March, he lowered his earnings estimate by 15 cents to $4 per share.
Coster still expects the Waterloo, Ontario, company to grow its sales volumes significantly throughout the downturn. Other analysts have noted that "smart" phones like BlackBerrys and Apple Inc.'s iPhone have been doing relatively well even as the overall cell phone market is starting to shrink.
RIM is "benefiting from massive sell-in of a new product portfolio, set against a significant slowdown in consumer and enterprise demand for handsets," Coster wrote.
He kept an "Overweight" rating on RIM's stock, saying it is undervalued even considering the reduced forecast.
RIM is set to report its fiscal third-quarter results on Dec. 18.
|
