BlackBerry Swings to $53 Million Profit as QNX Revenue Hits Record, Stock Jumps 11%
NEW YORK, April 9 —
BlackBerry (BB) posted its first full-year GAAP profit of $53.2mn, swinging from a $79mn loss, and shares surged 11%.
- Q4 revenue $156mn, beating the $144mn estimate by 8%. Adjusted EPS of 6 cents topped the 5-cent consensus.
- At $3.78 and 19.6x forward P/E, BlackBerry trades at a fraction of pure-play cybersecurity comps, but full-year revenue grew just 3%.
- FY27 guidance calls for $584mn to $611mn in revenue and 15 to 19 cents in adjusted EPS. Q1 FY27 revenue guided to $132mn to $140mn.
What Actually Happened
The headline is the profit swing, but the real story is QNX. BlackBerry's embedded automotive software division posted Q4 revenue of $78.7mn, up 20% YoY, and full-year QNX revenue hit $268mn with an 83% gross margin. That is a genuinely good software business hiding inside a company most investors still associate with phones. The royalty backlog sits at $950mn, which gives some visibility into future quarters. Secure communications, the other half, grew 8% in Q4 to $72.5mn and carries a 70% gross margin. Both segments are now profitable at the EBITDA line.
Free cash flow came in at $46.5mn for the year, and BlackBerry ended with $432mn in cash even after buying back roughly $60mn in shares. CEO John Giamatteo declared BlackBerry "a growth company with a proven track record of execution." That is a bold sentence for a company that grew revenue 3% for the full year.
The Catch
The 3% full-year growth number is the problem with the "growth company" narrative. Q4 was strong at 10%, but Q1 FY27 guidance of $132mn to $140mn implies a sequential step down from $156mn. Some of that is seasonality in QNX royalties, which spike in automakers' fiscal year-ends. The FY27 revenue midpoint of $598mn would represent about 9% growth. Respectable, but not the kind of acceleration that typically justifies a re-rating.
The forward P/E of 19.6x looks cheap on paper, but BlackBerry needs to prove this QNX momentum holds outside its core automotive install base. Management talks about medical devices, robotics, and industrial IoT. Those are real addressable markets, but they are early-stage revenue contributors today.
Bottom Line
BlackBerry is a better business than it was two years ago. Full stop. A $53mn profit, $46.5mn in free cash flow, $432mn in cash, and a QNX division with 83% gross margins and a $950mn backlog. That is real. The question is whether 9% guided growth is enough to sustain investor enthusiasm after an 11% one-day pop, or whether this trades back to "show me" territory within a few weeks. Watch the Q1 FY27 print for QNX momentum outside of automotive. That is the number that determines whether this is an inflection or a good quarter.
For a full financial breakdown of BlackBerry, generate your free report at Basis Report for BB.
Basis Report does not hold positions in securities discussed. This is not investment advice.