BlackBerry Limited (BB)

[JohnSamuel]

07:24 AM EDT, 03/27/2015 (MT Newswires) -- BlackBerry (BBRY) is due off a pre-bell halt at 7:30 a.m. Friday, coming on the heels of a surprisingly strong profit in Q4 ended February 28.
The smartphone maker said it ended Q4 with a non-GAAP net profit of US$20 million, or US$0.04 per share, versus a loss of US$42 million, or US$0.08 per share, in the same period in fiscal year 2014. The firm turned to profits in the period despite a year-over-year decline in revenues to US$660 million from US$976 million, with operating expenses down by more than half to US$424 million from US$1.1 billion. The revenue breakdown for the quarter was approximately 42% for hardware, 47% for services and 10% for software.
The mean estimates provided by Capital IQ was for non-GAAP EPS of US$(0.04) and revenues of US$778 million.
On a GAAP basis, net income came in at US$28 million, or US$0.05 per share, an improvement over last year's net loss of US$423 million, or US$0.80 per share.
Looking forward, the company aims to generate positive free cash flow. It will also focus on "stabilization of revenue with sustainable profitability and cash generation."
Separately, the firm said its new SIM-based licensing solution is now being offered by 3 Hong Kong and by China Mobile Hong Kong to their respective customers.
BBRY shares were halted at $9.42 each, in a 52-week range of $7.01 - $12.63.
Price: 9.42, Change: +0.12, Percent Change: +1.29
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