Embattled BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is showing new signs of life.
Shares in the Canadian company have been on a tear that neatly coincides with Apple’s stock fall. RIM shares are up 65 percent in the past three months, while the stock of its most imposing rival, Apple, is down 13.5 percent in that time.
Investor optimism surrounding RIM is focused on its next-generation BlackBerry 10 phones, which are expected to start selling in February after numerous delays.
“This is an opportunity for them to become the third smartphone ecosystem or even knock off a weaker Android [manufacturer],” said Peter Misek of Jefferies.
Misek helped set off a RIM rally this week when he wrote to clients that BlackBerry 10 has a 30 percent chance of reigniting the company.
A success would mean RIM could return to about a 20 percent share of smartphones in the US and the stock would be worth $42, he said.
A few Wall Street investors liked those odds and sent RIM shares up 35 percent in the past two days, closing at $11.66 yesterday.
BlackBerry 10 represents a brand new platform for RIM with upgraded software and hardware, following the app-centric, touch-screen model that Apple pioneered.
RIM has been threatened with extinction and even some of its hardcore business users, once addicted to CrackBerries, have migrated from the onetime leader in smartphone tech.
In 2008, RIM’s share price was close to $150 and its share of the smartphone market in the US was dominant at one point, above 40 percent, according to ComScore.
This year, RIM shares hit a low of $6.22 and its share of smartphone sales is below 10 percent in the US.