Profit Rises 33% for Maker of BlackBerry

TORONTO (AP) — The BlackBerry maker Research in Motion posted a 33 percent increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, exceeding expectations but disappointing investors with its forecast.

The company earned $643 million, or $1.12 a share, in the quarter, up from $482.5 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier.



TORONTO (AP) — The BlackBerry maker Research in Motion posted a 33 percent increase in quarterly profit on Thursday, exceeding expectations but disappointing investors with its forecast.

The company earned $643 million, or $1.12 a share, in the quarter, up from $482.5 million, or 84 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding a $175.1 million tax benefit and other one-time items, the company earned $564.4 million, or 98 cents a share.

Revenue in the period, which ended May 30 and was the first quarter of the company’s fiscal 2010, rose 53 percent, to $3.42 billion from $2.24 billion a year earlier, helped by the addition of about 3.8 million net subscribers during the quarter.

The company beat the 94 cents a share profit forecast of analysts, but revenue was short of the $3.43 billion expected.

In the second quarter, it expects earnings of 94 cents to $1.03 a share on revenue of $3.45 billion to $3.7 billion. Analysts expected 97 cents a share in earnings and $3.61 billion in revenue.

Shares of Research in Motion dropped more than 5 percent, to $72.56, in after hours trading on the Nasdaq.

“The guidance was solid but not as good as the street was expecting, which is probably why the stock is getting hurt in the after hours,” said Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams in Toronto.

Stock in the company, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, has more than doubled since March.

Research in Motion’s co-chief executive, James L. Balsillie, said in a statement that the company had captured a 55 percent share of the smartphone market in the United States