BlackBerry maker RIM shares savour sweet relief rally
Published on Thursday July 05, 2012
By Josh Rubin Staff Reporter
Shares of beleaguered BlackBerry maker Research in Motion rose more than five per cent Thursday, amid a small rise in the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite Index.
By 2:30 p.m., RIM shares had risen 40 cents to $7.75 (U.S.) in trading on the NASDAQ, a gain of 5.44 per cent. The NASDAQ Composite Index, meanwhile, was up 8 points, or less than half a per cent. Its shares closed yesterday up 34 cents at $7.69 (U.S.).
Shaw Wu, a tech industry analyst at Sterne Agee, called it a “relief rally” for the stock, which has lost more than 90 per cent of its value since its 2008 peak of $148.
“The NASDAQ is up. Also, RIM shares have been under huge pressure — so it’s a relief rally,” said Wu.
The rise comes during a turbulent period for RIM, which last week announced a fiscal first quarter loss of $518 million, the delay of the long-awaited BB10 operating system, and that it’s planning to cut 5,000 jobs.
Earlier this week, company executives launched a PR push to convince investors, analysts and customers that the company wasn’t “in a death spiral,” despite falling market share, and the delay of BB10 until the first quarter of next year.
Next week, the company’s annual general meeting takes place in Waterloo.
