After a brief pause, the stock market appeared ready to move back into bull mode on Thursday morning. Stock index futures moved higher by about a third of a percent as investors took new economic data into account in their more optimistic views for the economy and the broader market.
Two stocks with ties to technology were on the rise early Thursday. BlackBerry (BB 1.80%) has been around since the birth of the smartphone, and its latest financial report suggested that its current business model might finally be bearing fruit. Meanwhile, air taxi pioneer Joby Aviation (JOBY 4.90%) was in the news for the second straight day, this time having gotten outside interest in its cutting-edge mobility technology.
BlackBerry looks sweet
Shares of BlackBerry were 8% higher in premarket trading on Thursday morning. Late Wednesday afternoon, the company released its fiscal first-quarter financial report for the period ended May 31, and investors responded with new enthusiasm about the provider of intelligent security software and related services.
BlackBerry's financials improved considerably during the quarter. Revenue of $373 million was more than double what the company brought in during the same quarter a year ago. Fairly tight cost controls keep increases in operating expenses to a minimum, and that helped BlackBerry post a modest adjusted net profit of $35 million. That worked out to $0.06 on an adjusted per-share basis, reversing a year-ago loss.
Fundamentally, BlackBerry's business had several successes but also faced some challenges. The cybersecurity segment had solid performance, with government clients playing a key role in driving growth. However, on the Internet of Things side of the business, BlackBerry saw some customers pull back on their spending plans in light of macroeconomic uncertainty, and that caused BlackBerry to delay new programs temporarily. Over the long run, though, the tech company still expects favorable trends to support all of its focus areas for the remainder of the fiscal year and beyond.
Few investors expected BlackBerry to turn a profit this quarter, so the news was welcome in that respect. That said, shareholders will need to see a lot more upward momentum before they'll start to recognize significant returns on their investment, given the stock's lackluster performance since the late 2000s.
Joby keeps gaining altitude
Shares of Joby Aviation looked set for a second day of solid gains. After jumping 40% on Wednesday, the electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft developer saw its stock gain another 20% in premarket trading Thursday morning.
Yesterday's move came after Joby announced it's successfully getting approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in the form of a special airworthiness certificate for its production prototype aircraft. That will allow flight testing to begin as Joby aims to build an air taxi service within the next few years.
Joby followed that news up with an announcement early Thursday that Korea's SK Telecom is making a $100 million equity investment in Joby. The move will expand the partnership between Joby and SK Telecom, as the pair will now participate in the K-UAM Grand Challenge to boost adoption of aerial ridesharing in Korea.
SK Telecom finalized the deal on June 27, and it got a screaming deal on the stock it purchased, buying 15.04 million shares at $6.65 per share. With the stock price already up more than $4 per share in the past two days, that works out to a quick $60 million paper profit on SK Telecom's position. That's a massive move for the former special purpose acquisition company, and now Joby will have to deliver on its promise in order to satisfy all of its shareholders.
