Shares of Blackberry Ltd. (TSX:BB)(NYSE:BB) were down 5.84% in early afternoon trading on March 29. The stock has still climbed 12.2% in 2018 thus far. Blackberry released its fourth quarter results on March 28.
Blackberry reported total software and services revenue of $218 million which broke the record set in the third quarter. The company reported that it had approximately 3,500 customer orders in the quarter. In the wake of the Facebook Inc. data scandal, Blackberry CEO John Chen was secure in his belief that his bet on privacy and security would continue to pay off. In the fall of 2017 Blackberry launched a cybersecurity consulting service, and the company provides security software internationally including to the Canadian and U.S. governments.
In the fourth quarter Blackberry also secured partnerships with Baidu Inc. and NVIDIA in its development of self-driving vehicle software. The industry encountered a possible setback most recently after a self-driving Uber vehicle struck and killed a woman in Arizona earlier this month. This represented the first fatality from an autonomous vehicle so far. The industry is expected to post explosive growth over the next few decades, but this latest incident could slow down progress in the near future.
For 2019 Blackberry expects to post double digit software and services billings growth and projects positive cash flow for the full year. Blackberry has made a highly successful transition to software thus far, and it is a good long-term bet with a sizable footprint in several burgeoning industries including cybersecurity and self-driving vehicles.
