Today, RIM reported their fourth quarter financial results for fiscal 2011. With recorded BlackBerry smartphone shipments up 52.3 percent over fiscal 2010, you’d think the stock market would welcome the Canadian giant. Unfortunately, this was not the case as RIM said profits this quarter will be much weaker than expected.
The stock market plays no favorites. In a classic case of what have you done for me lately, RIM’s fourth quarter financial results were quickly overshadowed by their present quarter forecasts. For the record, RIM is looking sharp on paper — fiscal 2011 revenue grew 33 percent over fiscal 2010 to $19.9 billion and earnings per share grew 47 percent to $6.34 per share diluted.
Also to RIM’s credit, the BlackBerry PlayBook release date has been set in stone for April 19 and during 2010 BlackBerry remained the number one selling smartphone brand in the US, Canada, Latin America and the UK. Under normal circumstances, this would have investors celebrating.
Unfortunately shares in Research in Motion fell 12 percent in after-hours trading after the firm said profits this quarter would be much weaker than expected. The dip in profits could be largely attributed to developing the BlackBerry PlayBook and migrating customers towards cheaper handsets in its product range.
We were certainly fans of the BlackBerry PlayBook in our brief hands-on time earlier this year. Add in the ability to run Android apps and we’d say RIM is in a solid position. Now if only the smartphones could catch up with the competition in terms of apps and hardware. Was the stock market’s response to RIM’s forecasts a bit premature? Let us know what you think about RIM’s present and future condition.
via RIM
