The BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB)(NYSE:BB) of today is quite different from the one involved with the development of mobile devices several years ago. BlackBerry CEO John Chen has done a terrific job of putting BlackBerry on a new growth track as a software developer — a lower-risk, higher-margin kind of business.
The company delivered a strong fiscal Q2 2018 earnings report, which beat analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines thanks in part to a lower than expected decline in service access fees. In the month ahead, BlackBerry is slated to release the results for fiscal Q3 2018. It’s worth noting that the company has beaten the Street for four consecutive quarters, so should another beat be in the cards, BlackBerry will be positioning itself for a running start in 2018, which could be the year the company really starts to take off.
BlackBerry Technology Solutions (BTS) is a promising segment that has enjoyed many recent deals of late. QNX could be the go-to system that the connected cars of the future may end up using. Sure, there’s a tonne of competition, but it’s worth noting that QNX is the most advanced solution available for an embedded system, according to many pundits.
More recently, BlackBerry announced a partnership with Japanese firms Fujisoft and Hitachi Industry & Control Solutions. The new-found partners will be delivering integration services, which will allow BlackBerry to bring its embedded tech to market at a quicker rate.
BlackBerry is at the forefront of a red-hot market
When autonomous vehicles are fully regulated and become the norm on the roads, there will be no room for holes in cybersecurity, otherwise we a scenario where hackers turn self-driving cars into weapons. There’s fear that technology is advancing faster than our abilities to control and regulate it in a safe manner. BlackBerry’s incredibly sophisticated solution allows for continuous updates with redundancy on safety measures, which will make connected cars nearly impossible to hack.
Sure, theoretically, it’ll still be possible to bypass BlackBerry’s ridiculously complicated end-to-end security solution, but it’ll probably not be worth the efforts, since there are far easier systems to compromise.
With the recent hacks being made public, including Uber’s cover-up scandal, protection from cyber threats is a top priority, no matter what industry you’re in. In a decade from now, the costs of a system compromise will be raised exponentially. It’s not just user data that’ll be at stake; it’ll be real lives, and potential disasters could be enough to bring a company under.
Bottom line
The cybersecurity market is growing ridiculously fast, and that’s a huge long-term plus for BlackBerry, as it returns to the cutting edge of technology once again. I think 2018 could be a huge year for the company, so investors should consider getting some skin in the game today.
Stay hungry. Stay Foolish.
