Earnings Preview: RIMM Reports After The Close On June 28

Company Profile

Research In Motion Limited (RIMM) designs, manufactures, and markets wireless solutions for the mobile communications market worldwide. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to information, including e-mail, voice, instant messaging, short message service (SMS), Internet and intranet-based applications and browsing.

Research In Motion Limited is scheduled to report its first quarter earnings results on June 28, 2012, after the market close.

Technical Overview

click to enlarge all images

Research In Motion Ltd has a market cap of $5.56 billion and it is currently trading around $10.6 with a 52 week range of $9.57 to $35.94. The stock has fallen 26.9% year to date. The following table provides the key financial ratios for Research In Motion Ltd:

Key Ratio	Value
Current Ratio	2.08
PEG	0.82
P/E	4.77
Forward P/E	18.6
Profit Margin	6.31%
Return On Assets (ROA)	8.75%
Return On Equity (ROE)	12.23%

Recent News

• On June 14, 2012, Porsche Design and Research In Motion launched the elite new Porsche Design P'9981 smartphone from BlackBerry® in Canada.
• On June 14, 2012, Research In Motion announced the BlackBerry® Bold 9930 smartphone will be available in China through the corporate sales channels of China Telecom.
• On June 6, 2012, Porsche Design and Research In Motion launched the elite new Porsche Design P'9981 smartphone from BlackBerry® in Indonesia.
• On June 5, 2012, Research In Motion introduced two stylish new smartphones for socially-connected customers in the Caribbean.
• On June 1, 2012, South Africa's youth has once again named BlackBerry® as the 'Coolest Brand Overall' in the Sunday Times Generation Next 2012 Brand Survey Awards.
• On May 31, 2012, Porsche Design and Research In Motion launched the elite new Porsche Design P'9981 smartphone from BlackBerry® in Singapore.
• On May 31, 2012, Research In Motion and the University of Pretoria announced the opening of the BlackBerry apps lab at the University of Pretoria, a BlackBerry Authorised Academic Centre.
• On May 29, 2012, Research In Motion Limited provided a business update from Thorsten Heins, the Company's President and CEO. The details of the business update can be found here.
• On May 25, 2012, Research In Motion announced a stylish new smartphone for socially-connected customers in India.

Here's a list of recent changes to analyst ratings:

• On June 7, 2012, UBS lowered the price target on Research In Motion from $15.00 to $11.50 and maintained a NEUTRAL rating.
• On June 6, 2012 Zacks Investment Research, Inc. upgraded Research In Motion from SELL to HOLD.
• On May 30, 2012, Credit Suisse lowered the price target on Research In Motion from $14.50 to $11.00 and maintained a NEUTRAL rating.
• On May 30, 2012, JMP Securities upgraded Research In Motion from MARKET UNDERPERFORM to MARKET PERFORM.
• On May 26, 2012 EVA Dimensions, LLC downgraded Research In Motion from BUY to OVERWEIGHT.
• On April 23, 2012, TD Securities initiated coverage on Research In Motion with a HOLD and set the price target as $16.00.
• On March 30, 2012, FBR Capital downgraded Research In Motion from MARKET PERFORM to UNDERPERFORM and lowered its price target from $14 to $11.

Analyst Guidance and Earnings History

The first quarter revenues are expected to be $3.15 billion when compared to $4.91 billion for the same quarter last year. Earnings per share for the first quarter are expected to be 1 cents a share, down from a $1.33 a share in the year-ago period.

The average price target from analyst for Research In Motion Ltd is $11.39 with average rating is HOLD

Out of the last 4 quarters, Research In Motion Ltd has met or exceeded the EPS estimates 2 times. The following chart shows the Analyst estimates history and the actual EPS results:

The following chart shows the annual summary of Sales and Net income for Research In Motion Ltd:

Competition

Apple Inc (AAPL), Ericsson (ERIC), Nokia Corp (NOK), and Google Inc (GOOG), are considered as major competitors for Research In Motion Ltd and the table below provides the key metrics for these companies:

Name	Research In Motion Ltd	Apple Inc	Ericsson	Nokia Corp	Google Inc
Symbol	RIMM	AAPL	ERIC	NOK	GOOG
Price	$10.60	$585.78	$8.94	$2.51	$570.85
Year-To-Date Price	-69.18%	76.57%	-33.80%	-58.25%	12.82%
Market Capitalization	$5.7B	$536.8B	$26.4B	$9.2B	$184.0B
Earnings per Share	2.22	41.01	0.78	-0.87	32.98
Total Revenue	$18.4B	$142.4B	$32.3B	$45.5B	$40.0B
Employees (Full-Time)	16500	63300	104525	130050	32467

Sources: Some of the data is taken from Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, Finviz and investor sites.

Disclaimer: I am not a registered investment advisor and do not provide specific investment advice. The information contained herein is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article should be taken as a solicitation to purchase or sell securities. Before buying or selling any stock you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion. It is up to investors to make the correct decision after necessary research.

Additional Disclosure: I change my positions very frequently and may initiate either long or short positions in the above mentioned stocks at any time.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in AAPL, RIMM, GOOG, ERIC, NOK over the next 72 hours.