There is no shortage of bearish wagers on Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM ) .
Investors have generally turned their backs on the BlackBerry maker. They see Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) and Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG ) Android as the darlings of the smartphone space. It doesn't matter that RIM is still growing -- with revenue soaring 31% in its latest quarter. With 4.5 million net new BlackBerry accounts added during the quarter, there are now more than 50 million BlackBerry subscribers.
It also doesn't seem to matter that RIM is dirt cheap, now trading at just nine times this fiscal year's projected profitability.
Investors are looking further out, and they see a rumble in RIM's enterprise jungle.
The latest attack comes from an unlikely foe: Dell (Nasdaq: DELL ) . The meandering computer giant will be replacing 25,000 of its employee-sanctioned BlackBerrys with its own Dell Venue Pro model. Dell has been tinkering with Android gadgetry, but this smartphone was introduced last month as one of the first devices running Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT ) Windows Phone 7.
Microsoft may be a bigger winner than Dell in this move. Dell plans to make it easier for many of its enterprise customers to migrate from RIM's platform to what it claims will be a cheaper wireless solution through Dell's phones. It's hard to give Dell too much of a shot here, but it does have a meaty enough Rolodex to make a dent. At the very least, it will be educating the BlackBerry-addicted corporate realm on the merits of Windows Phone 7.
You may not agree with me in pegging Microsoft as the bigger winner than Dell in the move, but we can all probably agree that RIM is the only one with something to lose here.
There were 32.3 million shares sold short as of mid-October, more than double the number of RIM shares shorted when the year began.
Growth and cheap valuations don't seem to matter to the RIM bears. They see the smartphone pioneer as aging poorly, especially now that Dell and a Palm-backed Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) have RIM squarely in their crosshairs.
Move around a bit, RIM. Don't give them a clean shot!
Where do you see RIM in five years? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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