Canaccord Genuity Reiterates Sell on BlackBerry Following Tepid August Results

In a report published Monday, Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley reiterated a Sell rating and $8.00 price target on BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY).

In the report, Canaccord Genuity noted, “Consistent with our global surveys indicating very weak Z10, Q10, and Q5 sales along with sharply declining legacy BB7 sales, BlackBerry pre-announced August quarter sales of 3.7M BlackBerry units, $1.6B in revenue, and a non-GAAP loss of $0.47-0.51. These results were significantly below our Street-low estimates. Further, consistent with our prior sum-of-parts valuation that assigns no long-term value to BlackBerry's consumer business, management announced a significant restructuring eliminating roughly 4,500 positions and discontinuing consumer-focused BlackBerry products. BlackBerry will refocus the business towards only enterprise and professional consumers. However, given the growing BYOD trend, we view a healthy consumer smartphone business as paramount for a sustainably profitable enterprise franchise.”

BlackBerry Ltd. closed on Friday at $8.73.