BlackBerry Rises on Profit Forecast After More Software Gains
- 2017 loss will be 15 cents a share; analysts expected 31 cents
- Software revenue, a key focus, rose 21% from a year earlier
BlackBerry Writes Down Inventory in Sales Miss
BlackBerry Ltd. rose as much as 4.6 percent after forecasting better-than-expected profit and insisting there was a way to make its ever-shrinking phone business profitable again.
Chief Executive Officer John Chen is pushing to increase software sales while finding a way to wring profitability from the company’s shrinking smartphone division. Chen has said BlackBerry’s first Android phone, the keyboard-equipped Priv, didn’t sell as well as he had hoped because it was too expensive. While the company works on two more Android phones, including a cheaper option, Chen said he would slot some software sales into the smartphone unit. This would provide a way for that unit to achieve profitability even as the company sells fewer phones.