The company swung to a profit of $59 million in the quarter ended Nov. 30 from a loss of $275 million a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company said it earned 5 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate of 2 cents. Adjusted revenue in the third quarter was $228 million, compared with the average analyst projection of $215.7 million.
Enterprise software and services revenue, a key growth metric, was $96 million in the third quarter, according to a statement Thursday, down 1 percent from a year earlier. The company previously said it expects software revenue to underperform through fiscal 2019 due to a change in accounting standards. BlackBerry has pivoted away from making phones in recent years, reinventing itself as a security software provider under Chief Executive Officer John Chen.
The company offers a range of different product lines, such as systems to manage an entire stable of mobile phones, or to let cars securely update their entertainment systems.
The company reaffirmed its outlook for 2019. It expects total software and services revenue growth of between 8 percent and 10 percent and positive adjusted earnings per share. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company is also looking to push into health care, Chen said earlier this year
The shares rose 3.4 percent in early trading in New York after the report was released. BlackBerry is down 34 percent this year.
BlackBerry announced last month that it's acquiring cybersecurity company Cylance Inc. for $1.4 billion, to add artificial intelligence capabilities to its existing software products. For more details on the results, click here. Read the statement here.
