UPDATE: Canaccord Genuity Upgrades BlackBerry Following Agreement with Fairfax Financial-Led Consortium

In a report published Tuesday, Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley upgraded the rating on

from Sell to Hold, and raised the price target from $8.00 to $9.00. In the report, Canaccord Genuity noted, “BlackBerry today signed a letter of intent agreement with a consortium led by BlackBerry's largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial, to sell the company for $9 per share. The proposed transaction values BlackBerry at $4.7B and is conditional to due diligence, negotiation and customary regulatory approvals. Following due diligence, the parties intend to execute a definitive agreement by November 4, 2013.This announcement is consistent with our belief BlackBerry will ultimately end up selling the company due to the difficult competitive smartphone market and low probability BlackBerry 10 can return BlackBerry to sustained profitability, even despite the recently announced deep cost cuts. We increase our price target to the proposed acquisition price of $9 and upgrade BlackBerry to HOLD from Sell.” BlackBerry Ltd. closed on Monday at $8.82.