Investors weren’t thrilled with RIM’s outlook for the upcoming quarter, despite reporting an impressive $643.03 million U.S. in earnings (up from $482.5 million last year) for the first quarter of fiscal 2010. 3.8 million new subscribers puts the grand total of BlackBerry users up to 28.5 million, which is a growth rate about on par with previous quarters. Between now and August 29th., RIM hopes to tack on another 3.8 – 4.1 million subscribers and rake in $3.45-$3.70 billion in revenue. Here are some of the reactions.
“Expectations going into this were really, really high so I think there’s going to be a little bit of disappointment with the guidance. … The guidance is a little better than initially thought from the report, but still others thought the numbers would be higher, so it’s going to be a volatile name.” – Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek
“They continue to do phenomenally well. There was obviously increased expectations. There was chatter that the numbers could even be bigger.” – Genuity Capital Markets analyst Deepak Chopra
“The stock had doubled this year and when expectations get that high and you don’t exceed them, you take it on the chin.” – Avian Securities analyst Matt Thornton
“The pressure on RIM is growing. It’s not just the iPhone anymore but a second competitor with something that is possibly even better than the iPhone operating system. [Referring to the Palm Pre]” – TCW Group analyst Nirav Parikh
Despite flattening growth, at least the numbers are going in the right direction, which is more than we can say for some manufacturers.
[via RIM]