The BlackBerry Classic, held by CEO John Chen, restores familiar features like the ‘belt’ – a row of four physical keys for calls, accessing menus and going back one step, that had disappeared from the Q10.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
Short interest in BlackBerry Ltd. has hit its highest recorded level in more than a year. The number of shares borrowed and sold by speculators – on the expectation they can buy the stock back at a lower price – hit 118.6 million on Dec. 31 on the NASDAQ exchange, according to figures released Monday. The short interest, released twice a month, has increased for the past three reports and is now at its highest level since Dec. 13, 2013, when it stood at 143.8 million shares.
It's always difficult to read too deeply into changes in the short interest from report to report, given that the reports don't take into account daily fluctuations between the twice-monthly counts. But a rising amount over time of shares held short often signals that investors are growing increasingly skeptical, and that they think the stock is in for a drop from current levels.
BlackBerry's reported short interest – dipped well below 100 million for 2014, a time of increased optimism following the appointment of Silicon Valley turnaround veteran John Chen as CEO. However, the company's revenues have continued to fall, and a host of new initiatives launched or announced by Mr. Chen to improve the company's fortunes have yet to translate into major revenue improvements.
The company launched two new smartphones, the Classic and Passport, and began introducing a range of new software and service offerings this past fall. Mr. Chen indicated during a meeting with journalists last month he was becoming frustrated by skeptical financial analysts who are growing doubtful about his turnaround plan. He said a promised $250-million bump in annual software revenues won't begin to show up in results until the middle of 2015.
Sean Silcoff