BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), which is scheduled to report its earnings on 25th September, appears on track of its turnaround, but it may face few hiccups on its path. For now, the Canadian firm is primarily focusing on generating stable revenue. The concern for the investors is, for the past two quarters, the firm has been experiencing wide fluctuations in revenue generation on YoY and QoQ basis.
Software provided the push in Q1
BlackBerry’s earnings and revenue failed to meet Wall Street expectations in the first-quarter. This was because the company made huge investments in the development of software. For the second-quarter, investors should look for the monetization of patents, growth in software, and the operational costs in the earnings.
Since John Chen joined BlackBerry two years back as its CEO, he made it very clear that the entire focus going forward would be on turning the firm into a software unit. Even though he refused to stop selling hardware or come out of it completely, Chen is continuously reducing company’s dependence on the hardware. Despite this, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) continues with the launch of new smartphone models. In the upcoming period, the Canadian firm will launch more smartphone models that are in the pipeline for now.
Software business is the company’s only business that has seen growth. A growth of 150% on QoQ basis was recorded by the software segment in the first-quarter. Security and privacy issues are also the key focus areas for the company.
Patents monetization key for BlackBerry in Q2
If the first-quarter provides any indications, then the monetization of patents will play a key role in the second-quarter results. At present, the company has around 44,000 patents, and monetizing this big portfolio is one of BlackBerry’s primary turnaround tactic, Chen said recently. In the first-quarter, the company benefited from the licensing revenue it generated from Cisco Systems, but it is largely believed that the momentum for revenue growth will be provided by the monetization of patents.
On Friday, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) shares closed down 0.92% at $7.50. Year to date, the stock is down almost 32% while in the last one-year, they are down over 31%.
