BlackBerry beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue on Tuesday, helped by demand for its cybersecurity and Internet of Things products.
For the quarter ended Nov. 30, BlackBerry reported a loss of five cents per share on revenue of $184 million, compared with a loss of 23 cents per share on revenue of $218 million in the same quarter last year. Analysts had been predicting a loss of seven cents per share on revenue of $173.6 million.
BlackBerry’s Internet of Things division revenue in the quarter came in at $43 million and its cybersecurity division delivered $128 million in revenue. Licensing and other revenue rounded out the total with $13 million.
“This quarter BlackBerry delivered solid sequential billings and revenue growth for both the IoT and Cybersecurity businesses, beating expectations for the second consecutive quarter. We also beat expectations on earnings, despite the ongoing investment to drive future top line growth,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman & CEO, BlackBerry.
“In IoT our QNX business achieved a quarterly record for design-related revenues, performing stronger than expected despite ongoing industry supply chain headwinds.
On the Cybersecurity front we saw further traction for our recent unified endpoint security product launches with additional head-to-head wins against other next-gen players. I am excited about how the current organization is executing to take advantage of the market opportunities.”
Chen said on a conference call that BlackBerry expects automotive supply chain issues to ease in the fourth quarter and help boost demand for its QNX car software, used by automakers including Volkswagen, BMW and Ford Motor.
Despite the better-than-expected quarterly results, BlackBerry shares dropped in after-hours trading after initially increasing as much as 3% after the earnings report was published, though they later regained a bit to a decline of 1.5%.
Third Quarter Fiscal 2022 Financial Highlights
- Total company revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $184 million.
- Total company non-GAAP and GAAP gross margin was 64%.
- IoT revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $43 million, with gross margin of 81% and ARR of $91 million.
- Cybersecurity revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $128 million, with gross margin of 59% and ARR of $358 million.
- Licensing and Other revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $13 million, beating expectations. Gross margin was 54%.
- Non-GAAP operating loss was $24 million. GAAP operating profit was $51 million.
- Non-GAAP breakeven earnings per share (basic and diluted). Basic GAAP profit per share was $0.13 and diluted GAAP loss per share was $0.05.
- Total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $772 million.
- Total net cash position was $407 million.
- Net cash used by operating activities was $19 million.
Business Highlights & Strategic Announcements
IoT
- BMW Group enters multi-year agreement to use BlackBerry QNX technology to develop SAE Level 2/2+ driving automation functions in multiple makes and models across the BMW group.
- Google and Qualcomm join forces with BlackBerry QNX to reduce developer friction and time to market when virtualizing Android Automotive OS alongside safety critical applications on the QNX Hypervisor.
- Mahindra and Mahindra, the third largest automaker in India, selects QNX Real Time Operating System (RTOS) and Hypervisor to power the cockpit domain controller for their next-generation SUV.
- BlackBerry IVY early access version is released in October 2021, in line with product roadmap.
- Zuora, a leading provider of software that enables companies to harness subscription revenue from online applications, joins the BlackBerry IVY advisory council.
Cybersecurity
- Exabeam partners with BlackBerry to greatly expand access to telemetry data from 100’s of network devices as part of its enhanced BlackBerry Guard managed extended detection and response (XDR) service.
- Okta and BlackBerry announce a comprehensive partnership to deliver both seamless identity and access capabilities while using BlackBerry UEM endpoint management, as well as integrating Okta’s telemetry data into BlackBerry’s XDR platform.
- Mimecast, Stellar Cyber and XM Cyber, join the BlackBerry XDR ecosystem.
- BlackBerry Guard 2.0 managed services offering (MDR) expands to provide customers with 24/7 management of BlackBerry Protect Mobile, BlackBerry Gateway and BlackBerry Persona.
- BlackBerry’s prevention-first cybersecurity technology prevents high-profile malware and ransomware including DanaBot, Raccoon Infostealer, SquirrelWaffle, Jennlog Loader, and more.
- SE Labs, a leader in independent cybersecurity research, ranks BlackBerry as the best new endpoint security offering of 2021.
