Needham downgrades RIM, chops forecast; blames ‘clueless’ half-CEOs

13 years ago

“Needham analyst Charlie Wolf [has cut] his rating on the stock to Hold from Buy, while chopping his FY 2012 EPS forecast for the company to $6 from $7.35, well below management’s own forecast of at least $7.50 a share,” Eric Savitz reports for Forbes.

“Wolf writes in a research note that the BlackBerry maker has largely been a ‘one-trick pony, delivering the gold standard in messaging services,'” Savitz reports. “But he contends ‘that’s no longer enough,’ that consumer want phones that provide a broad range of software and services.”

The company, he believes, has not responded to the challenge posed by Apple and Android – and he blames management for the company’s woes,'” Savitz reports. “‘In the absence of adult supervision, RIM has been unable to respond,’ he writes. ‘Unfortunately, RIM’s skills as a hardware manufacturers have been more than offset by its ineptness in software development, the focus of competition today. The blame must be laid at the feet of the company’s Co-CEOs [Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie] who in their actions and words, appear to have no clue on how to mount a successful response.’ …Wolf is less than optimistic about the prospects for the PlayBook, the company’s entry into the tablet market. He notes that there were no reports of lines anywhere when the device went on sale. And he adds that the early evidence is ‘not encouraging.'”