BlackBerry Shares Bounce Off 2013 Lows Following Macquarie Upgrade

Shares of BlackBerry

up more than 3.5 percent Monday afternoon following an earlier upgrade from Macquarie's Kevin Smithen. The analyst raised his investment recommendation on the stock from Underperform to Neutral as the news on the Fairfax bid continues to develop. Smithen maintains a $7 price target on BlackBerry shares. In the report, Smithen said, “With press reports over the weekend about Google, Cisco, SAP and Samsung doing due diligence on BBRY, we believe that last week's fall well below Fairfax's $9 stalking horse bid price has finally attracted enough interest from the global tech titans who may take a 'punt' on enterprise mobility.” Although Smithen noted “no visibility” into the potential deal with Fairfax, he said he is not expecting downside below $6 because government officials in both Canada and the US may be inclined to “broker a quick sale.” Smithen improved his FY14 loss per share estimate for BlackBerry from $1.28 previously to just $0.83. Analysts on the Street are currently expecting a FY14 loss of $1.29/share. Despite upside in BlackBerry shares Monday, the stock is importantly holding below the $8 level this afternoon. Shares last traded at $7.97.