BlackBerry Shares Rising Despite Bernstein Downgrade

Early this morning Bernstein backtracked on its rating of BlackBerry

on Monday as they downgraded the company from Market Perform to Underperform, while giving it a $4.50 price target. The upgrade Monday was primarily predicated on the assumption that a possible failure of a buyout being priced into the shares, making a short position less attractive. However, following more in depth research, the note states that the company's cash burn is far higher than previously thought, primarily due to its rate of subscriber loss. With cash burn projected to be $2 billion over the next 6 quarters, the report stated it will be almost impossible for Fairfax to get the financing to buyout BlackBerry, making "almost any floor valuation irrelevant". Despite the bearish report, shares rose slightly Thursday morning, gaining 0.13 percent to $7.97.