For contrarian investors, BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB)(NYSE:BBRY) has proven to be a very difficult company to invest in over the past 10 years. The roller-coaster ride which saw one of the world’s most influential hardware and software companies dethroned and pushed aside in favour of more innovative and user-friendly options has exiled the former handset maker to the land of software development and UI engineering.
BlackBerry would argue that this shift is a good thing, and is one which is much more likely to be a profitable long-term strategy than continuing down the road of competition in the crowded mobile phone arena. The company’s shift toward building and improving upon BlackBerry’s QNX software platform, one which is currently vying for top spot among other options in the autonomous vehicle space, has excited many investors and caused a spike of interest in the Canadian technology company earlier this summer.
Since the beginning of June, however, things have not gone so well for BlackBerry, with the tech company giving up most of its gains during the first half of the year. Year to date, BlackBerry’s stock price has increased by 20%, however the most recent peak earlier this summer represented a 70% gain over where BlackBerry shares traded at the beginning of the year, highlighting the volatility investors have continued to experience with BlackBerry.
While this tech company may have more room to run in the long term, the potential volatility over time is one of the reasons I am staying away. I would recommend for those long-term investors interested in picking up shares do so on weakness moving forward, and continue to average down as necessary.
Invest wisely, my friends.
