Thursday, March 29, 2012

RIM Releases Q4 Earnings Report; Balsillie Resigns As Director, CTO And COO Both Given The Boot


With expectations at an all-time low and analysts lowering estimates left and right, Research In Motion on Thursday reported its results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012. RIM posted a surprising beat in the third fiscal quarter when it managed earnings of $1.27 per share on $5.2 billion in sales. At the same time, however, the Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry maker issued worse than expected fourth-quarter EPS guidance of between $0.80 and $0.95, and it said revenue would likely fall between $4.6 billion and $4.98 billion. RIM has now confirmed adjusted net income of $0.80 per share, on revenue of $4.2 billion. Read on for more.
RIM said it shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones and more than 500,000 PlayBook tablets last quarter. Smartphone shipments came in at the low end of its forecast of between 11 million and 12 million units. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $0.81 per share and $4.54 billion in revenue. In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011, RIM posted a profit of $710 million, or $1.27 per share, on $4.08 billion in sales.
The company confirmed that RIM co-founder Jim Balsillie will step down as director and leave the company.
RIM is also expected to confirm during its earnings call that multiple top executives will be laid off as part of a significant corporate restructuring. The news was first reported by The Globe and Mail.
The struggling smartphone vendor said it is facing significant challenges, and it is currently reviewing strategic opportunities and potential partnerships. RIM also said that its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone is on track to launch in late 2012.

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