What happened
Shares of BlackBerry (BB -1.43%) fell 28.3% in February, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, giving back some of the impressive gains the company enjoyed in January. BlackBerry is caught up in the current short-squeeze mania, which has generated a lot of volatility in the stock.
So what
It's been an interesting few months for BlackBerry, the Canadian company once known as Research in Motion that is perhaps best known as the creator of the smartphone that dominated the market until Apple released the iPhone.
Its handset days are long gone, but BlackBerry in recent years has reinvented itself as a maker of software and services focused on security.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company jumped back onto a lot of radar screens in early December when it announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services to develop a platform that will help automakers collect and organize data from vehicle sensors. The stock climbed 12.95% that month as a result, but it was only the beginning of the wild ride for BlackBerry shareholders.
The stock spiked higher in late January after it became the focus of a Reddit discussion group that has been influencing stocks including GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings. In February it returned to earth, in part due to a number of midmonth analyst downgrades in response to its dramatic move higher.
Now what
Even after the fall, BlackBerry is still up 50% over the past three months.
I'm a big fan of the company's second act, and think the Amazon partnership, if successful, could cause BlackBerry to eventually be targeted by a tech titan eager to expand its Internet of Things (IoT) credentials. But given how far the stock has climbed, and the potential for further volatility in the weeks and months to come, I'd advise caution about buying in right now.
