BlackBerry’s last earnings report was truly a thing of spellbinding horror as the company had just taken down its “for sale” sign and posted earnings of -$0.67 per share on $1.2 billion in revenue. The consensus estimate for this past quarter was that BlackBerry would post a net loss of $0.56 per share on $1.13 billion in revenue and the company on Friday beat expectations by posting an EPS of -$0.08 on $976 million in revenue. The revenue decline is potentially worrisome for BlackBerry because it represents a 64% year-over-year decline from Q4 2013 and a sequential decline of 18% from Q3 2014. BlackBerry is also still burning through its cash pile at an unhealthy clip, as its $2.7 billion in cash represents a $500 million decline from the $3.2 billion in cash it had at the end of Q3 2014.
The good news for BlackBerry is that while its revenues are still falling, it has been very efficient when it comes to cutting expenses, which the company says is the main reason it posted a loss significantly lower than expectations.
“I am very pleased with our progress and execution in fiscal Q4 against the strategy we laid out three months ago,” said BlackBerry CEO John Chen. “We have significantly streamlined operations, allowing us to reach our expense reduction target one quarter ahead of schedule. BlackBerry is on sounder financial footing today with a path to returning to growth and profitability.”
