Investors Juice BlackBerry as the SaaS-y Company Racks Up Contracts

Sending an email has never been as cool as BlackBerry made it feel in the 2000s. But after losing dominance in the then-emerging smartphone space to a rival fruit-named company, BlackBerry has become unrecognizable from its QWERTY roots. 

BlackBerry’s pivot to software and cybersecurity solutions for automobiles, governments, and more recently, AI-driven robots has been a lucrative twist in the Y2K brand’s story. The 42-year-old company is projecting double-digit revenue growth in its current budget year, and its stock surged more than 10% last week after earnings beat expectations. 

Breaking Down BlackBerry’s Revenue Pie

BlackBerry stopped making phones in 2016 and stopped supporting its phones in 2022, effectively ending any attempts to play Snake on old devices folks find in their junk drawers. But in 2010, the company made a pivotal acquisition as its phone biz wound down, scooping up QNX Software Systems for $200 million. Now BlackBerry expects QNX, which serves as the backbone for tech in everything from cars to medical equipment, to generate between $290 million and $307 million this year.

The company’s revenue is largely split between its software and cybersecurity segments:

• QNX was running critical systems in more than 275 million vehicles globally as of December. QNX is used in most major automakers’ vehicles, including BMWs, Hondas and Toyotas. But QNX is diversifying beyond cars, too, with BlackBerry saying Thursday that about a fifth of QNX revenue comes from non-auto sources, including medical equipment and AI robots. 
• The other half of BlackBerry’s revenue pie comes from its Secure Communications segment, which supplies encrypted communications for governments like Germany’s and Canada’s, defense agencies and other organizations.  

Growing Season: BlackBerry was caught up in the meme-stock craze of 2021, as retail investors boosted nostalgic brands such as GameStop and Bed Bath & Beyond. But now, its stock seems to be rising on solid fundamentals as it secures biz that should keep revenue flowing into the future. It has built a backlog of $950 million worth of QNX contracts from automakers and other companies that plan to keep using its software.