View Poll Results: Did you buy shares ?

Voters
1129. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yes, I'm acting now !

    702 62.18%
  • No

    427 37.82%
  1. Corbu's Avatar
    This guy was always a big fan...


    ItsMeJC
    Published on Jan 29, 2019
    My SUPER late BlackBerry key2 unboxing...
    rarsen, morganplus8 and Greened like this.
    03-20-19 01:50 PM
  2. fanBBRY's Avatar
    Radar H2 Ad:

    03-20-19 07:35 PM
  3. Corbu's Avatar
    A bit more info on BlackBerry Government Solutions

    https://www.fedscoop.com/blackberry-...athoc-cylance/

    Long gone are the days when it seemed everyone you knew in D.C. had a BlackBerry device. But after a successful pivot to focusing primarily on enterprise mobility management and security, the Canadian company is rededicating itself as a trusted partner to the U.S. federal government with the launch of a new subsidiary — BlackBerry Government Solutions.

    The subsidiary launched last week in downtown D.C. independent of the greater BlackBerry company (minus the shared name) with its own governance structure, and systems and data hosted separately from its parent company. The office is chartered to provide a suite of cloud-based, government-authorized compliant endpoint security solutions to the federal government, particularly as adoption of Internet of Things and 5G technologies grows.

    “We really represent end-to-end technology of how you secure usage in this whole IoT world,” CEO John Chen said in remarks during the ribbon-cutting of the office space.

    BlackBerry no longer sells devices, but other manufacturers, like TCL, sell BlackBerry-branded phones. The company is now focused on providing secure communications and enterprise endpoint management services to businesses and agencies on a variety of devices, including iOS, Android and Windows. But for the most part, that’s a line of business BlackBerry has left behind when working with federal customers.

    The new Government Solutions team — currently nine employees led by Bob Day, president of the subsidiary and former Coast Guard CIO — and office are built around two core missions: to accelerate Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) authorizations of its products to sell to government and deepen relationships with federal agencies, particularly those that need services that can handle classified information.

    “As government moves more and more projects into cloud-based, a network has no boundaries,” Chen told reporters after the ceremony. “So the people that touch those, and the products that touch those, really need to be in a more trusted architecture. FedRAMP was designed for that reason.”

    BlackBerry has two FedRAMP-authorized cloud services — AtHoc Services for Government, a crisis communication platform with more than 2 million licenses sold to agencies, and CylancePROTECT, an artificial intelligence-based antivirus product it recently acquired in the purchase of California-based Cylance that was previously authorized. But it’s looking to expand its government portfolio. Day said BlackBerry is working to receive FedRAMP authorization for its Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform, which will be sold to agencies under the name BlackBerry Government Mobility Suite.

    “It is the baseline by which we will add all the other products to,” Day said, adding that the new subsidiary plans will be FedRAMP Ready in the next month and then completely FedRAMP authorized by the end of calendar 2019, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as its sponsoring agency.

    In addition to the continued pursuit of authorizing more services for government use on top of the baseline UEM platform, the new team will have its hands full with continuous monitoring and maintenance of those services to keep them authorized. “Once you’ve achieved it, retaining it” is a major challenge, Day said, “because it’s a constantly changing environment and there are new controls being added every day.”

    “FedRAMP is not for the faint of heart,” he said. “It is a significant investment by BlackBerry to take this product through.”

    Expanding classified work

    Through the new subsidiary, BlackBerry plans also to expand its opportunities for classified work. Every employee will be a U.S. citizen with a security clearance. Day called the new office “the catalyst of where we’ll move for getting cleared employees,” because while it’s not a requirement of FedRAMP, it will allow the group to work hand-in-hand with certain classified agencies that demand its services.

    Chen, during his remarks, highlighted this facet of the subsidiary, emphasizing how trusted “this Canadian company is in this town, in times like this, especially” — no doubt a reference to the Trump administration’s banning of Huawei and Kaspersky products in the U.S. government supply chain because of their relations to governments in China and Russia, respectively.

    But Day said this decision also stems from experiences BlackBerry has had when its leaders didn’t get the opportunity to work directly with agency customers in secured environments, even though its services were being used, because they weren’t cleared. Instead, BlackBerry was several layers removed in the process.

    “[R]ight now we service many of those [classified agencies] with BlackBerry products, which are being serviced by third-party providers, many of them very good, many trusted partners with us,” Day said. “But we’d like to be in that game ourselves directly. Cause many times we’ll have that trusted partner on the inside and a BlackBerry employee on the other side of the door because the BlackBerry employee can’t go in. If we can have those people with those clearances to do that kind of work, I think it will enhance our overall benefit to our customer on the federal side.”

    Chen agreed that “since we are the base technology provider, it is best to be able to be in the room and sitting around the table because they eventually rely on the technical capability of what we offer, rather than offering through another third party.”

    Investing in FedRAMP compliance, along with hiring the cleared technical talent to work on the services, Chen said, is “a big investment — not only the time and money, but the patience.”

    And ultimately, it will be a multi-year timeframe, just to get current products authorized, Day said. “It’s a lift each time to take these products and add them in. But we’re getting pretty good at it, getting through FedRAMP.”

    But the end goal, even if years away, he said, is clear: “Our objective is to have an offering that starts with mobile device management but then adds all these other applications in that you can literally turn on … It’s truly cloud-based software-as-a-service that we will have eventually the full suite of BlackBerry products in this single FedRAMP environment that you can turn on and then secure with Cylance.”
    W Hoa, fanBBRY, FeitaInc and 8 others like this.
    03-21-19 06:37 AM
  4. Corbu's Avatar
    Watching paint dry.
    03-21-19 02:13 PM
  5. W Hoa's Avatar
    Watching paint dry.
    As long as it's green paint I'm OK with that
    03-21-19 05:12 PM
  6. EchoTango's Avatar
    A bit more info on BlackBerry Government Solutions

    “[R]ight now we service many of those [classified agencies] with BlackBerry products, which are being serviced by third-party providers, many of them very good, many trusted partners with us,” Day said. “But we’d like to be in that game ourselves directly. Cause many times we’ll have that trusted partner on the inside and a BlackBerry employee on the other side of the door because the BlackBerry employee can’t go in. If we can have those people with those clearances to do that kind of work, I think it will enhance our overall benefit to our customer on the federal side.”
    While Canadians (like me) might feel somewhat put-off by the lack of trust our cousins seem to have for us, who can blame them for wanting only U.S. security cleared citizens working to secure their most secret agencies. I think this is a great move and will "firewall" the rest of Blackberry from this sensitive work, making the acquisition of Blackberry products much more acceptable for these customers.

    Taking the UEM product through the FEDRAMP certification is another plank in the strategy to gaining further traction in this sector and can only help sales with other NATO partners.

    All-in-all I think this is one of the more positive strategic moves I've seen from Blackberry for some time.
    03-21-19 06:04 PM
  7. Corbu's Avatar
    While Canadians (like me) might feel somewhat put-off by the lack of trust our cousins seem to have for us, who can blame them for wanting only U.S. security cleared citizens working to secure their most secret agencies. I think this is a great move and will "firewall" the rest of Blackberry from this sensitive work, making the acquisition of Blackberry products much more acceptable for these customers.

    Taking the UEM product through the FEDRAMP certification is another plank in the strategy to gaining further traction in this sector and can only help sales with other NATO partners.

    All-in-all I think this is one of the more positive strategic moves I've seen from Blackberry for some time.
    Fully agree. If anything, set up similar entities in other jurisdictions if that is what the customer requires. Quite frankly, I wonder why such a move was not made earlier.
    03-21-19 06:20 PM
  8. Bacon Munchers's Avatar
    Fully agree. If anything, set up similar entities in other jurisdictions if that is what the customer requires. Quite frankly, I wonder why such a move was not made earlier.
    To add,

    It should be obvious now to any investment blogger with common sense (are you listening Mr. Faucette?) that with all these massive entities slowly buying in, BlackBerry is here to stay.

    The only question should be is:
    Where is the ceiling for this company? The roots keep extending....
    Corbu and morganplus8 like this.
    03-21-19 08:03 PM
  9. Corbu's Avatar
    Morgan Stanley

    James E Faucette

    March 22, 2019

    BlackBerry Ltd | North America

    Resumption of Coverage - Auto Remains Key to Bull Case

    We resume coverage with an EW rating and $10 price target. While Cylance should accelerate software growth statistics, it will take time for cross-sell opportunities to arise, with BTS remaining a key upside driver over next few years.

    Cylance offers growth, but we still believe auto remains the key to being more positive on Blackberry. In general, while BlackBerry is now positioned for greater growth, it remains primarily inorganic, with the key to being more positive on BlackBerry remaining upside opportunity in the BlackBerry Technology Solutions (BTS, or auto) business. We are more cautious on the upside opportunity for now, as we believe that some OEMs will continue to rely on the QNX operating system for connected car and autonomous vehicle applications, but we expect many OEMs will try to lever free and open source alternatives (such as Automotive Grade Linux). We currently expect 16 % growth in FY20 for BTS, accelerating to 22 % in FY21. If growth exceeds these expectations in timing or magnitude, a sign of above expected ASP growth / adoption, we could turn more positive on BlackBerry.

    Cylance helps BlackBerry build out secure IoT platform, removing barriers to adoption, but will take time to ramp into combined platform vs. product. BlackBerry’s acquisition of Cylance helps bolster its Spark cybersecurity platform as it expands onto a growing number of devices. Cylance is a next-gen endpoint security company that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict and prevent attacks on endpoints. As noted in a recent Gartner study, a key barrier to IoT adoption is security. The need for security on a growing number of devices has allowed Cylance to accumulate 3,500+ customers to date, including more than 20 % of the Fortune 500. BlackBerry envisions that the addition of Cylance to their portfolio will create a platform that can protect endpoints of all sorts from chip to the edge across the security life cycle. We think it will take time for this joint platform to ramp and in the meantime expect there to be little cross-sell.

    Transaction was departure from M&A parameters over past few years, but should help software growth reach double digits. Over the past few years, BlackBerry has focused on acquisitions at <5x EV/NTM Sales (e.g. Good Technology, AtHoc, WatchDox, Movirtu, Secusmart), with most being well under that threshold. Cylance is a bit of a departure from that, at <7x EV/NTM Sales, implying 50 %+ growth for Cylance in the coming year. For context, BlackBerry noted that Cylance had $130mm of revenue in FY18 (April FYE), the result of ~90 % growth over the previous year. While we now expect Enterprise software to grow at a ~25 % CAGR over the next few years, most of that is inorganic, with core revenue base EMM only expected to grow 8 %.

    View core EMM market a low single digit grower. EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) has not been much of a factor in software in BlackBerry’s overall software services growth, with slow growth compounded by transitioning from perpetual license sales to a subscription model (and a ASC 606 transition). BlackBerry’s containerized MDM tends to appeal most to highly-regulated entities such as government, financials and legal for EMM in multi-device environments, but we believe that much of the mobile security market has moved beyond the "lock it down" approach, leaving the market with little growth. We continue to see acquisitions as key to Enterprise Software growth given ~$750mm net cash position (post Cylance) and relatively static core EMM market growth.

    In the meantime, IP licensing continues to be primary source of beats, but see that as ad hoc. In general, IP has been the primary source of topline beats in the past two years. In FY18, IP licensing was 20 % of revenue, up from 9 % and 6 % in FY17 and FY16, respectively. IP licensing revenue could continue to creep up in future quarters given noted pipeline. However, it will continue to be difficult to predict when one-time agreements will be realized from quarter to quarter and how much of this revenue is recurring, marking it hard to attribute ongoing value to this line item.

    Updating estimates for acquisition. We are embedding Cylance into our estimates as part of our relaunch of coverage. We would note that the company has not yet given assumptions for the merger. For Cylance, we have assumed ~55 % growth in FY19 (April FYE for Cylance), assuming the business could contribute ~$230mm and $265mm to BBRY in FY20/FY21 (Feb FYE for BBRY). Additionally, we are assuming gross remain the same, but that Cylance operates at ~5-10 % operating margins, assuming it is probably a breakeven business within Cylance, but that operating improvements can be made as part of BlackBerry. Our new FQ1/FY20 revenue / EPS are $271.8mm / $0.05 and $1,146.2mm / $0.22 from $216.8mm / $0.04 and $914.2mm / $0.18 respectively.

    Resume coverage with an EW rating, $10 PT. Our $10 PT is ~5x FY21 revenue estimate, in-line with coverage universe on a growth-adjusted basis (treating Cylance as inorganic for now). Our multiple embeds some conservatism given more limited optionality resulting from the size of Cylance acquisition. We think investors continue to hold out for the ramp in new autos designs, but its gradual trajectory and modest growth in other software products lead us to believe multiple re-rating will be difficult. We could turn more cautious on the stock as the year progresses, and estimates remain optimistic despite limited software acceleration.

    -- Will post other bits later
    rarsen, W Hoa, La Emperor and 3 others like this.
    03-22-19 06:44 AM
  10. smithm565's Avatar
    Interesting timing right before ER, considering they recently built a good size position in BlackBerry. After reading the content of his article, they are likely still adding to their initial buy, which may be the reason he talks down most of their growth opportunities.

    https://theolympiareport.com/2019/01...ry-ltd-bb.html

    Posted via CB10
    W Hoa, rarsen, La Emperor and 4 others like this.
    03-22-19 06:56 AM
  11. smithm565's Avatar
    Also interesting timing, after nothing for quite a while. RBC just now released a note on BB with equal weight rating & $10 price target

    Posted via CB10
    rarsen, morganplus8, Corbu and 2 others like this.
    03-22-19 08:09 AM
  12. Corbu's Avatar
    A few quick notes on my earlier post.

    This is a case of Resumption of Coverage.

    We must remember that MS has advised BB on the Cylance deal. They therefore had to suspend research for a period of time for compliance reasons. Faucette now comes out with this “updated” analysis.

    On another note, for MS, buying BB shares (2M) is a totally separate matter. Their left arm (Research group) is totally separate from their right arm (Asset Management group). It is also almost meaningless for a company that has about 2T in assets. Plus, we have seen them buy and sell many times, over the years. I doubt we should give this latest purchase much weight in the grand scheme of things.

    Cheers,
    03-22-19 08:50 AM
  13. Bacon Munchers's Avatar
    Morgan Stanley

    James E Faucette

    March 22, 2019

    BlackBerry Ltd | North America

    Resumption of Coverage - Auto Remains Key to Bull Case

    We resume coverage with an EW rating and $10 price target.
    -- Will post other bits later

    ... he must have heard me.

    Just wondering what the general sentiment here is for IHS Markit evaluations. Anyone know if they have a good track record? Seems that they are bullish:

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/see-i...html?.tsrc=rss
    rarsen and morganplus8 like this.
    03-22-19 10:54 AM
  14. smithm565's Avatar
    Also interesting timing, after nothing for quite a while. RBC just now released a note on BB with equal weight rating & $10 price target

    Posted via CB10
    Just wanted to follow up on my 2 posts, on what I thought was interesting about the timing. I like to watch the level 2 trading in several stocks and for BB, looking at the past few weeks, most of the bid/ask had been controlled by the NYSE & NSDQ exchanges. Not so today, and for several periods in Nov/Dec, which has seen the SP "walked down" by the BATS & ARCA exchanges. Lots of info out there who uses these exchanges, but many broker-dealers, hedge funds, and private clients are some. Whether it is manipulation or not, I can't say, but they have good timing. Also, it's a weekly op-ex day.

    I know the rest of the market is down too, but BB did not jump with the market & other tech stocks the last few days either.

    Posted via CB10
    03-22-19 12:38 PM
  15. Corbu's Avatar
    So, more info from that MS report...

    Risk / Reward
    BTS will be key driver to bull case

    Price Target $10
    ~5x FY21 Revenue (in-line with growth adjusted comps, treating Cylance as inorganic)

    Bull $18
    8x FY21 Revenue
    Accelerated QNX content growth and Cylance platform integration. QNX revenues grow to over $600mm by FY23. Mobile security software platform integrated with Cylance grows above the market rate and helps contribute to a >$1.7bn software revenue business within three years. Multiple expansion on growth opportunities and software-driven margin expansion leads to the stock trading at 8x FY21e revenues, a premium to our coverage universe, but in-line with the average of software comps today (growing 20 %).

    Base $10
    ~5x FY21 Revenue
    Software growth driven by Cylance/BTS. Total revenue grows mid-to-high teens over next couple of years, primarily as a result of the acquisition of Cylance. ~5x FY21e revenues a slight discount to software comps to account for risk in BTS / Cylance growth

    Bear $5
    2.5x FY21 Revenue
    Revenue from acquired assets fall off, QNX decelerates sooner than expected. Revenue generated from acquired assets falls as subscribers leave, while QNX struggles as OEMs leverage free and open source alternatives. Blackberry fails to integrate Cylance into secure IoT platform and double digit software growth does not materialize. 2.5x FY21e revenue would be in-line with our coverage universe on a growth-adjusted basis while current net cash of $1.40 per share and opex flexibility should offer downside protection.
    rarsen, W Hoa, La Emperor and 4 others like this.
    03-23-19 10:39 AM
  16. Corbu's Avatar
    Investment Thesis

    • Cross-sell opportunities with Cylance further off
    • Core EMM market low growth
    • IP revenue difficult to model
    • QNX upside difficult to achieve as system costs and competitive software investments will limit the pace of ramp
    • BlackBerry should take share on connected car and autonomous vehicle applications, but must contend with eroding economics for the core infotainment platform

    Key Debates

    • Can BlackBerry build out a secure IoT platform around Cylance? We think it will take time for this joint platform to ramp and in the meantime expect there to be little cross-sell.
    • How much can QNX expand share on a per vehicle basis? We estimate that QNX will double its dollar content per vehicle over the very long-term, up from $3-5 and meaningfully below expectations for $15-25 per vehicle. We believe vehicle economics and competitive investments will limit the opportunity.
    • Will OEMs in-source the entire software stack? Unclear, but we expect many will try for strategic purposes.

    Potential Catalysts

    • QNX ASP growth / adoption exceeds expectations
    • Cylance outperforms / begin seeing gross sale
    • IP revenue continues to generate upside

    Risks to Achieving Price Target

    • Decline in enterprise software growth
    • Move away from QNX by OEMs in favor of alternate ecosystems
    • Cylance growth experiences fall-off
    rarsen, W Hoa, La Emperor and 5 others like this.
    03-23-19 10:41 AM
  17. Corbu's Avatar
    Analysis

    Bull Case Fueled by Share Gain Opportunity in Autonomous Vehicles

    What is BlackBerry's QNX product? QNX is an embedded operating system widely used to enable infotainment and telematics platforms in automobiles. We estimate that QNX shipped in 20mm vehicles in 2017 (~20% of global vehicle shipments) across a majority of connected car platforms. Given its incumbency and reputation for safety and security, investors believe QNX is well positioned to be the operating system for other connected car functionalities (i.e. hands free control, over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates) and autonomous vehicle applications (i.e. ADAS).

    We think growth opportunities in autonomous vehicles will disappoint expectations. BlackBerry currently collects $3-5 per vehicle shipped with QNX, and bullish investors believe the dollar content can increase 3-5x over the next few years as new connected car and ADAS platforms ramp. We think the growth opportunity is more limited than what is built into the stock: auto OEM's intend to pursue their own software development, webscale platforms are coming, and there's limited available profits per vehicle.

    Auto OEMs Are Pursuing the Software Stack

    Software development will be strategic for owning new products and services. Per a recent survey conducted by KPMG (Global Automotive Executive Survey 2017), automotive executives recognize that their digital ecosystems will enable significant revenue streams with new products and services around the vehicle. Meanwhile large technology companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Baidu continue to invest in their own connected car and infotainment platforms, and are offering them for free or nominal costs in exchange for driver/passenger data. Consumers will likely demand webscale integration in future vehicle models, and if OEMs want to retain some ownership in future monetization opportunities they will likely need to ramp their own software development efforts.

    OEMs are making early inroads with infotainment platforms. Most recently, Mercedes and Toyota introduced new infotainment platforms (MBUX and Entune respectively) based on Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a free and open source alternative to QNX. Besides ramping their own software competency, we think the decision to insource was also motivated by the opportunity to reduce system costs. EE Times conducts an annual survey of embedded systems projects across various industries (including Automotive), which illustrate a clear trend towards non-commercial, open-source OS/RTOS platforms. While QNX and automotives represent a small percentage of embedded systems projects globally, respondents are showing a clear preference towards platforms that do not require royalty payments.

    As software investments ramp and ecosystems mature, QNX will likely see continued pricing pressure on trailing technologies. Between OEM developments and webscale platforms we expect many infotainment and connected car functionalities will commoditize over time, implying that QNX must continue to differentiate on new applications to maintain content per vehicle. We expect many connected/autonomous car platforms will rely on QNX to various degrees (as evidenced by the recent Baidu partnership), but we think it will be difficult to grow its economics as fast as expected as alternatives continue to emerge and OEMs seek to reduce system costs.
    03-23-19 10:43 AM
  18. Corbu's Avatar
    rarsen, morganplus8 and Greened like this.
    03-24-19 10:07 AM
  19. DREXcb's Avatar
    I wonder if this company is a competitor or has a relationship with BlackBerry
    https://www.escrypt.com/en/news-events/all
    03-24-19 10:47 AM
  20. EchoTango's Avatar
    Analysis

    Bull Case Fueled by Share Gain Opportunity in Autonomous Vehicles

    We think growth opportunities in autonomous vehicles will disappoint expectations. BlackBerry currently collects $3-5 per vehicle shipped with QNX, and bullish investors believe the dollar content can increase 3-5x over the next few years as new connected car and ADAS platforms ramp. We think the growth opportunity is more limited than what is built into the stock: auto OEM's intend to pursue their own software development, webscale platforms are coming, and there's limited available profits per vehicle.

    OEM's are making early inroads with infotainment platforms[/B]. Most recently, Mercedes and Toyota introduced new infotainment platforms (MBUX and Entune respectively) based on Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a free and open source alternative to QNX.
    No one should be surprised that automotive software will eventually commoditize like any other product. This is a real risk for the company and is what really sunk BB10. What Blackberry needs to do is to either continue to evolve QNX or at some point, make it freeware to other OEM's to ensure a continued strong market presence.

    Sitting back doing nothing while believing in a continued product dominance is what led Blackberry to its current diminished circumstances and let's all hope they learned a valuable lesson.
    03-24-19 05:05 PM
  21. masterful's Avatar
    under Chen’s watch?
    03-24-19 05:38 PM
  22. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    No one should be surprised that automotive software will eventually commoditize like any other product. This is a real risk for the company and is what really sunk BB10. What Blackberry needs to do is to either continue to evolve QNX or at some point, make it freeware to other OEM's to ensure a continued strong market presence.

    Sitting back doing nothing while believing in a continued product dominance is what led Blackberry to its current diminished circumstances and let's all hope they learned a valuable lesson.
    Yeah at some point the cost of developing and controlling your own OS, becomes more attractive than being at the mercy of another vendor. A more "open" solution like AGL is probable going to eat into QNX's dominance..... unless BlackBerry finds a reason beyond just code to keep customers coming back. For BlackBerry that might be secure communications and AI with Cylance???

    Don't need an Asus like hack that allows code to be updated to the systems on cars....
    03-26-19 08:55 AM
  23. Redzinaldas's Avatar
    03-27-19 06:04 AM
  24. Corbu's Avatar
    Bank of America Merrill Lynch / Daniel Bartus
    27 March 2019

    BlackBerry

    4Q preview – raising estimates to include Cylance; reiterate Underperform

    Reiterate Rating : UNDERPERFORM | PO : 8.50 USD | Price : 8.82 USD

    Blackberry to report 4Q19 results on March 29

    We preview Blackberry’s 4Q19 results, scheduled for Friday morning (3/29). Despite a strong recovery for the stock YTD, we believe near-term expectations remain low. We raise our estimates mainly to account for the Cylance acquisition and expect a slight revenue beat (Cylance deal closed 2/21). As such, our 4Q19 revenue estimate is above consensus at $247.3mn vs $242.2mn. We expect investor focus to be on Cylance’s momentum and guidance for the combined company in FY20. Our FY20 revenue/EPS estimates remain below Street estimates at $1.11bn/6c vs $1.14bn/20c. A mix of tough comps due to 606 accounting changes YoY, high inorganic growth in FY20 due to Cylance integration, and a wide variety of outcomes for licensing disputes likely set up another muddled quarter and guide, in our view. We maintain our $8.50 PO (now based on 3.7x CY20E EV/S vs 3.3x CY19 prior to capture Cylance) and our Underperform rating.

    Cylance deal complete; room for wide ‘20 guidance range

    Positively, the integration of Cylance makes Blackberry a contender in endpoint security and management, and the associated revenues should drive stronger growth for the Enterprise segment in FY20. Negatively, the price tag at $1.4bn for Cylance’s $130mn FY18 revenue meaningfully changes Blackberry’s net cash position from $2.94/sh to roughly $0.58/sh. Management noted that Cylance was growing at a rate of 90 %+ YoY in FY18 and we model a deceleration for Cylance to 51 % YoY in Blackberry’s FY19 and 31 % YoY in FY20. Given the uncertainty around Cylance’s current growth rate and timing of licensing resolutions, we see potential for a wide FY20 revenue guidance range.

    Licensing still carrying the load; valuation remains fair

    Management has maintained its FY19 Software/Services revenue growth guidance at +9 % YoY, but we see some risk to this target given that growth in FY19 has so far been mainly led by IP Licensing, up 35 % YoY in 1Q-3Q19. Looking into FY20, we are now more comfortable with Enterprise Software growth, helped by the Cylance acquisition, but this may be offset by a decline in the growth rate of IP Licensing revenues (30 % of sales). We believe expectations need to decline and flag valuation as an additional risk with the stock trading at ~3.9x CY20 EV/Sales versus close peers at 2-3.5x.

    Price objective basis & risk

    Our $8.50 PO is based on roughly 3.7x EV/S on our CY20E software sales. This multiple is in line with the one accorded to similar low growth/challenged software/services companies and supported by our sum-of-parts valuation.

    Upside risks to our price objective are : 1) Success of new product launches, 2) Restructuring efforts, asset sales, or transformative M&A, 3) large unexpected IP deals.

    Downside risks to our PO are : 1) Slowdown in smartphone or enterprise software market due to macroeconomic weakness, 2) Margin pressure from SAF decline and low software growth, 3) Competitive risks from Apple, Google (Android), Samsung, VMware, Microsoft, and more, 4) Increased investment required to support new products, and 5) Security breach and reputational risk.
    03-27-19 07:23 AM
  25. Corbu's Avatar
    03-27-19 09:31 AM
113,256 ... 43214322432343244325 ...

Similar Threads

  1. The importance of a removable battery.
    By krzyabn in forum BlackBerry KEY2
    Replies: 45
    Last Post: 04-15-19, 10:12 PM
  2. Motion support - Vibration no longer working and I need advice!
    By bunnyraider in forum BlackBerry Motion
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-12-19, 09:42 PM
  3. Will BlackBerry Launcher ever give us the option to swipe up?
    By ikeike859 in forum BlackBerry Android OS
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 04-12-19, 06:27 PM
  4. In MIXplorer, what is the "archive?"
    By RLeeSimon in forum Android Apps
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-12-19, 05:00 PM
  5. Skype Preview brings screen sharing to Android and iOS
    By CrackBerry News in forum CrackBerry.com News Discussion & Contests
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 04-12-19, 01:51 PM

Tags for this Thread

LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD