Well played, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM). The beleaguered BlackBerry maker managed to post quarterly results that fell well ahead of Wall Street's bleak expectations.

Sure, the quarter wasn't great. Revenue fell 31% to $2.9 billion, and RIM did post its third consecutive loss. However, analysts were holding out for a much larger adjusted deficit on a 40% top-line drop.

Remember the oft-repeated bearish thesis calling for folks to trade in their BlackBerrys for Android and iOS smartphones? Well, RIM actually closed out the quarter with a record 80 million users, 2 million ahead of where it was just three months earlier.

RIM still needs its upcoming mobile operating system update to be a hit. The company may have the luxury of sitting on $2.3 billion in cash, but it can't afford to lose relevance. Until revenue begins to climb and deficits turn to profits, it will be premature to call this a turnaround story. However, Friday's encouraging market response to the report shows that investors may be willing to give the smartphone pioneer the benefit of the doubt.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • ThinkEquity lowered its price target on Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU), fearing that China's search leader may finally be vulnerable in sustaining its dominant market share.
  • Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) is acquiring dining discount provider Savored. Groupon is reportedly paying no more than $20 million for the site, so apparently Groupon is as much of a deal seeker as its discount-sniffing users.
  • Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) will be the exclusive provider of premium telematics on new Nissan cars as the satellite-radio operator branches out beyond its core offering.
  • The prolific worrywarts at Citron Research turned their bearish attention to Zillow (Nasdaq: Z), arguing that the rapidly growing real estate website operator's model is flawed and its shares grossly overpriced. Will Citron's low target price for Zillow be any more accurate than the real estate website's Zestimates?

Moving on
There's also a premium report on Baidu, looking at China's dot-com darling. The premium research comes with a year's worth of updates. Check it out.