BlackBerry announced an unexpected quarterly profit on demand for the new touchscreen device that holds the key to its successful turnaround, but revenue remained far below year-earlier levels.<\/p>\n
The smartphone maker said on Thursday that it had sold about 1 million of the new Z10 devices during the fourth quarter ended March 2. It shipped roughly 6 million smartphones in that period.<\/p>\n
Net income in the quarter was $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share.<\/p>\n
Shares of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company fell 1.1 percent to $14.40 in premarket trading after the results were released.<\/p>\n
BlackBerry said it believed it would approach break-even financial results in the first quarter, based on a lower cost base, more efficient supply chain, and its improved hardware margins.<\/p>\n
Analysts on average had been expecting a loss of 10 cents a share in the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I\/B\/E\/S.<\/p>\n
Yet the company, which has lost market share to rivals like Apple Inc, is far from out of the woods. Quarterly revenue fell to $2.68 billion from $4.2 billion a year earlier.<\/p>\n
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