BlackBerry's Stock Surges After Surprise Profit Offsets Sales Miss

Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. rallied 2.9% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the software and mobile security company reported a surprise profit for the fiscal third quarter, but missed sales expectations. The net loss for the quarter to Nov. 30 narrowed to $117 million, or 22 cents a share, from $372 million, or 71 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 2 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of breakeven. Revenue fell to $289 million from $334 million, below the FactSet consensus of $330 million. The company said it now expects to achieve and adjusted EPS profitability for the full year, compared with the FactSet consensus of breakeven. ""We achieved significant milestones in Q3, delivering the highest gross margin in the company's history for the second consecutive quarter and continuing to transform our infrastructure and operations to support an enterprise software business," said Chief Executive John Chen. The stock has tumbled 17% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 11%.