BlackBerry drops nearly 16 per cent in revenue for Q1 2022

BlackBerry trimmed its net loss to US$62 million in the first quarter of its fiscal year despite lower revenues. The company, which reports in U.S. dollars, says it lost 11 cents per share in the three months ended May 31, compared with a loss of $1.14 per share or US$636 million a year earlier.

BlackBerry did beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, lifted by a rebound in demand for its QNX operating software and cybersecurity products.

Total company revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 was $174 million. Total company gross margin was 66%. IoT revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 was $43 million, with gross margin of 84% and ARR of $86 million.

BlackBerry QNX royalty revenue backlog increased from $450 million in Q1 FY21 to $490 million in Q1 FY22, a 9% increase year-over-year. Cyber Security revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 was $107 million, with gross margin of 57% and ARR of $364 million.

Licensing and Other revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 was $24 million as negotiations for the sale of a portion of the patent portfolio continue.

Non-GAAP operating loss was $23 million. GAAP operating loss was $58 million. Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.05 (basic and diluted). GAAP loss per share was $0.11 (basic and diluted).

Total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $769 million. Net cash used by operating activities was $33 million.

“This quarter we aligned the business around the two key market opportunities – IoT and Cyber Security. In IoT we are pleased with the strong progress of the auto business, despite global chip shortage headwinds.
Design activity remains strong, the number of vehicles with QNX software embedded has increased to 195 million, and royalty revenue backlog grew by 9% year-over-year.
Tangible progress continues to be made with BlackBerry IVY, including the launch of the IVY Advisory Council and the first investment by the IVY Innovation Fund,”
“On the Cyber Security side, we announced two new significant product launches as part of our XDR strategy – BlackBerry Gateway and Optics 3.0. We continue to see strong pipeline growth for our new UES products.”

BlackBerry was expected to lose 13 cents per share or five cents per share adjusted on US$171.25 million of revenues, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.

BlackBerry has reorganized its software and services business around two groups — the Internet of Things (IoT) and cybersecurity. Mattias Eriksson is president of the IoT business unit, while BlackBerry President and Chief Operating Officer, Tom Eacobacci, is running the cybersecurity business unit.

John Chen, Executive Chairman & CEO, BlackBerry said:

Going forward, BlackBerry will provide revenue and gross margin by business unit as well as other selected metrics, and will provide fiscal year 2022 outlook in connection with the quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call. The earnings call transcript will be made available on our website and on SEDAR.