What happened
Shares of BlackBerry (BB 2.50%), a provider of security software to enterprises and governments, rallied 18.4% on Friday. The double-digit boost doesn't appear to be related to any news. Instead, the company likely bounced back from its huge decline over the last few weeks along with the rest of the market.
So what
The markets have been in free fall as fears of the spread of COVID-19 continue to grow. Tech stocks like BlackBerry haven't been spared. As of Thursday, March 12, BlackBerry's stock was down more than 37% from its February highs. That was a much steeper decline than the tech-heavy Nasdaq experienced during the same time frame.
Thankfully, all three of the major U.S. stock market indexes came roaring back to life on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all rose more than 9% on the final day of the trading week.
Image source: Getty Images.
The huge relief rally carried many tech stocks higher, and BlackBerry rode the wave to an 18% gain.
Now what
There's no telling what the days and weeks ahead will bring. This recent bear market came out of nowhere and has rapidly taken down the market. Since the outbreak hasn't been fully contained, it's impossible to know how close we are to a bottom.
The good news for BlackBerry investors is that its business has been completely transformed over the last few years for the better. The company now generates nearly all of its revenue from high-margin software and services sales, and it is starting to generate consistent cash flow and adjusted profits.
BlackBerry will report its fiscal 2019 full-year earnings in the next few weeks, and management said that it is planning to hold an analyst day to review the future of the business in late April. Investors will want to tune in to those events to learn how the outbreak is affecting its business and where this company is heading.
