BlackBerry reported first-quarter revenue of $152.9 million, up 26% from a year earlier, and raised its full-year financial outlook as growth in its QNX embedded software business accelerated and the company cited expanding opportunities in artificial intelligence.
The results topped the company's own guidance, which had projected revenue of up to $140 million for the quarter. At 4 cents per share on an adjusted basis, the company outpaced both its own 2-to-3-cent guidance range and the 3-cent consensus among analysts, The Wall Street Journal reported.
BlackBerry now expects full-year revenue of $594 million to $621 million, up from its prior forecast of $584 million to $611 million, the company said. Full-year adjusted earnings guidance was raised to 16 to 20 cents per share.
Revenue from the QNX division, whose embedded software runs in vehicles and other environments where reliability is safety-critical, reached $72.3 million, a 26% increase from the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment climbed to $19.3 million, a 52% gain. BlackBerry pointed to software-defined vehicles, robotics, industrial automation, and medical devices as areas it expects to drive growth over multiple years.
"We are particularly encouraged by the multi-year growth opportunities ahead in software-defined vehicles, including significant content expansion with the Alloy Kore platform, as well as broad opportunities in the general embedded market, especially physical AI," CEO John Giamatteo said in a statement. "We believe these opportunities significantly enhance QNX's long-term potential."
Bringing in $73.6 million for the quarter, the Secure Communications unit — which provides encrypted messaging and crisis response tools — grew its top line by 24% compared with a year ago, The Globe and Mail reported. A renegotiated agreement extending SecuSUITE service to Canadian federal staff until 2033 was cited as a key contributor to that jump. Annualized recurring revenue for the division stood at $220 million.
On a GAAP basis, net income totaled $8.5 million, extending a streak of profitable quarters to five in a row. Operating cash flow turned positive at $4.6 million, a threshold the company said it had not crossed in a fiscal first quarter for nine years, outside of proceeds from a patent portfolio sale in fiscal 2024. Cash and investments on hand at quarter-end were $422.9 million.
Second-quarter revenue is expected to land between $137 million and $148 million, with adjusted per-share earnings in a range of 3 to 4 cents.
Shares surged over 20% when markets opened Thursday.