By Alastair Sharp
TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry maker Research In Motion
The company earned $796.7 million, or $1.46 a share, on $4.62 billion revenue in the three months ended August 28, up from $475.6 million, or 83 cents, in the same period last year. It said around $1.5 billion worth of stock repurchases in the quarter, adding about 2 cents to its earnings per share.
"This is a nice surprise on the upside. Revenue was better, EPS was better, units were better both for the current quarter, as well as the November quarter guidance," said Matthew Thornton from Avian Securities in Boston.
Analysts had on average forecast earnings of $1.35 per share on revenue of $4.47 billion, according to Reuters data.
RIM shipped 12.1 million units, at the high end of its own guidance, compared with analyst estimates of 11.8 million units.
One of the only metrics to fall short of expectations was net subscriber additions for the quarter.
"Those were 4.5 million, the Street was at around 5 million. That was really the only weak spot here, but that is more than compensated from just really strong results across the board and really strong guidance for next quarter, said Dushan Batrovic from Dundee Securities.
RIM's gross margin was 44.5 percent, versus expectations of 43.9 percent.
RIM said it expects to add between 5 million and 5.4 million subscribers in the current quarter, which ends on November 27. Analysts had expected 5.2 million net subscriber additions this quarter.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company's shares jumped more than 6 percent in after-hours trade in the United States. It had been up more than 2 percent before the results, largely as a result of short-sellers covering their positions.
