Wells Fargo Reiterates Market Perform Rating on BlackBerry Following Announcement of BlackBerry Z30

In a report published Wednesday, Wells Fargo Securities analyst Maynard Um reiterated a Market Perform rating on BlackBerry Ltd. BBRY. In the report, Wells Fargo Securities noted, “BBRY's new Z30 device features a 5-inch screen and robust processing capabilities and has been dubbed the company's first ‘phablet.' It will be the first device to run the BB10.2 OS and is expected to have a strong set of productivity options for corporate customers. While the Z30 should be incremental from a unit sell-in perspective, success will be dependent on carrier availability, pricing and consumer adoption, in our view. The device is expected to hit shelves as early as next week in the UK and Middle East and in time for the holidays in other locations. We would also note that marketing will be an important element to raise the awareness of the launch. While the Z30 helps to bring the focus back to the fundamental business, we believe investors' attention is focused on a potential take-out. Barring this, we maintain our view that BBRY could be profitable if it scales back to become a more focused and smaller company.” BlackBerry Ltd. closed on Tuesday at $10.54.