UPDATE: Blackberry Shares Plunge On Huge Earnings Miss

Shares of smartphone maker

shares plunged in pre-market trading as the company reported a quarterly loss vs. an expected profit. Revenue was also weak and total shipments missed forecasts, sending shares lower by about 20 percent pre-market. For the first quarter of the fiscal year, Blackberry reported a loss per share of $0.13 vs. an expected profit of $0.08 per share. Excluding the 10 cent currency charge, Blackberry reported a first quarter loss of $0.03 per share, still well below forecast but up from last year's first quarter loss of $0.37 per share. Revenue was weak in the quarter as the company reported first quarter revenue of $3.07 billion vs. the forecast of $3.37 billion. Shipments of smartphones also missed forecasts at 6.8 million vs. 7.54 million forecast. Shares plunged as much as 20 percent on the news before recovering some gains. Shares traded $12.05, down 15.75 percent pre-market.