What happened
It's looking like an up-and-down day for tech stocks Thursday, with shares of DocuSign (DOCU 1.16%) and Zoom Video Communications (ZM +0.43%) -- two equities that have fairly thrived in the coronavirus economy -- giving back some gains and falling today. As of 11:30 a.m. EDT, DocuSign stock is down 3.4% and Zoom Video shares are off 6.5%.
In contrast, though, shares of former smart-phone-making star BlackBerry (BB +5.16%) are flying -- up 7.1%. Why?
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
In the case of DocuSign and Zoom, I fear, the answer is: "Your guess is as good as anybody else's." There's really no news to report on either of these companies today. Analysts on Wall Street are keeping mum (no downgrades nor price target cuts to spook investors). The companies themselves have nothing to report, either, and won't for awhile -- both stocks are due to report their next round of earnings news no sooner than December.
In the case of BlackBerry, however, we do have earnings to report. Specifically, this morning the company reported its fiscal second-quarter earnings, and with sales coming in at $266 million and pro forma profits at $0.11 per share (analysts predicted just $0.02), both numbers beat expectations handily. The numbers under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were a little bit different: $259 million for the revenue and negative $0.04 for the earnings, but apparently, these numbers, too, were better than expected.
Now what
BlackBerry has not yet revealed its full-year guidance, but it did drop a few hints. For one thing, 90% of the company's revenue is recurring, and thus unlikely to decline significantly going forward. To the contrary, sales grew in the most recent quarter, and CEO John Chen says he is seeing "continued demand" for the company's "Work from Anywhere" cybersecurity solutions.
With BlackBerry stock still down 12% over the past year, versus shares of DocuSign and Zoom, which are up more than two and five times, respectively, there seems to be a lot more room for growth in BlackBerry shares than in its more successful competitors, and a cheaper buy-in price as well -- less than three times trailing sales, versus 32 times sales for DocuSign, and 90 times sales for Zoom.
If you're looking for a reason why BlackBerry stock is more popular than DocuSign or Zoom Video Communications stock today, you may need look no further than that.
