BlackBerry Ltd (NYSE: BB) stock fell 1.04% on September 25th, 2020 (Source: Google finance) after the company’s second quarter of FY 21 performance.
The demand for the Canadian company’s security software suite, Spark, and its QNX car software rose. The company also benefited from higher sales of its core security software as companies continue to strengthen their IT security to support remote working trends. The company has narrowed its net loss to $23 million from $44 million, a year earlier. Total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $977 million at the end of the quarter. The company generated the net cash from operating activities of $31 million. After the end of the quarter, the company had successfully redeemed existing $605 million of convertible debentures and issued $365 million of new convertible debentures, which reduced the level of debt by $240 million and saving $16 million of interest expense on an annualized basis.
Moreover, BlackBerry’s QNX car software sales, which had been under pressure due to a Covid-19 pandemic-related weakness in the U.S. auto industry, also improved in the second quarter. The demand for new vehicles has been recovering after hitting a bottom in April, as lockdown restrictions ease and buyers return.
BB in the second quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 11 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 2 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 6 percent to $259 million in the second quarter of FY 21, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $237.03 million, according IBES data from Refinitiv.
On the other hand, the company has recently announced that StradVision, which is an industry leader in AI-based camera perception technology, will be utilizing the QNX Software Development Platform within a number of next-generation Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles (AV) from South Korean automakers. According to the agreement, BB will license its BlackBerry QNX technology to StradVision, including its QNX Software Development Platform (SDP) 7.0 for use in the company’s SVNet, which is an AI-based camera perception software tool that is expected to be adopted by South Korea’s top automotive supplier and a leading automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Meanwhile, as per the news, StradVision is reportedly planning the first self-driving solution IPO in Korea in 2022. The investors in StradVision include Hyundai Motor Group and LG Electronics.