Research In Motion Down 17% After Another Terrible Quarter

Struggling Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) released fiscal first-quarter earnings on Thursday after the closing bell. In what has become a quarterly tradition for the company, the stock is getting decimated on Friday after yet another disastrous report.

In the early going, RIMM shares were down roughly 19% to a new all-time low.

The company reported earnings per share of $0.37 on revenues of $2.8 billion. This compares to Wall Street analyst consensus EPS estimates of a $0.01 loss on revenues of $3.08 billion. Revenues were down a whopping 43% versus last year's corresponding quarter.

When including a pre-tax charge of $335 million for impairment of goodwill, Research in Motion reported a loss of $0.99. Gross margins in the quarter plunged to 28% compared to 43.9% last year. The company expects another operating loss in the third quarter and that the next several quarters will be very challenging.

Even worse, the company said that its launch of Blackberry 10 will not begin until the first quarter of 2013, which is later than had been expected. Blackberry 10 had been slated for a fall release to be on schedule for the crucial holiday selling season.

In its press release, Research In Motion said "Over the past several weeks, RIM's software development teams have made major progress in the development of key features for the BlackBerry 10 platform; however, the integration of these features and the associated large volume of code into the platform has proven to be more time consuming than anticipated. As a result, the Company now expects to launch the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones in market in Q1 of calendar 2013."

Additionally, Research In Motion is proceeding with its earlier announced plans to lay off 5,000 employees. CEO Thorsten Heins said, “I am not satisfied with these results and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organization and the Board to implement meaningful changes to address the challenges, including a thoughtful realignment of resources and honing focus within the Company on areas that have the greatest opportunities.”

Analysts are now speculating that the company could run out of money within 18-24 months. While RIMM's operating situation is disastrous, the potential for a buyout remains eminent. Given the severity of the situation, management may be forced to further examine its strategic alternatives versus its previously stated plan to focus on restructuring the company's business.

In other words, Research In Motion could be for sale - if they can find any takers.