Research In Motion F1Q10 (Qtr End 5/30/09) Earnings Call Transcript

Transcript by:

Research In Motion Limited (RIMM)

F1Q10 Earnings Call

June 18, 2009 5:00 pm ET

Executives

Edel Ebbs - Vice President, Investor Relations.

James L. Balsillie - Co-Chief Executive Officer, Director

Michael Lazaridis - President, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Director

Brian Bidulka - Chief Accounting Officer

Analysts

Keith Bachman - BMO Capital Markets

Jeffery Kvaal - Barclays Capital

Mike Abramsky - RBC Capital Markets

Jim Suva - Citigroup

Simona Jankowski - Goldman Sachs

Ittai Kidron - Oppenheimer

Presentation

Edel Ebbs

Welcome to RIM's fiscal 2010 first quarter results conference call. With me on the call today is Jim Balsillie, RIM's Co-CEO, and Brian Bidulka, RIM's Chief Accounting Officer.

After I read the required forward-looking statements disclaimer, Jim will provide a business and strategic update. Brian will then the review first quarter results and I will discuss our outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2010. We will then open the call up for questions.

I would like to note that this call is available to the general public by a call-in number and webcast. A replay of the webcast will also be available on the rim.com website.

We plan to wrap up the call before 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time this evening.

Some of the statements we will be making today constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. These include statements about our expectations and estimates with respect to revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, CapEx, depreciation and amortization, investment income, earnings, channel inventory, seasonality, ASPs, and foreign exchange related matters for Q2 and beyond; our expectations regarding RIM's near and long-term tax rates, as well as the effect of changes to Canadian tax laws; our estimates of the number of net subscriber account additions and other non-financial estimates; our efforts to manage operating expenses and reduce costs; our product development initiatives and timing; developments relating to our carrier partners; and other statements regarding our plans and objectives.

We will indicate forward-looking statements by using words such as expect, plan, anticipate, estimate, may, will, should, forecast, intend, believe, continue, and similar expressions. All forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties and assumptions we have made.

Many factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements, including risks relating to the uncertainty of general economic conditions, risks relating to our intellectual property rights, our ability to enhance our current products and develop new products and services, our reliance on carrier partners and third-party manufacturers, third-party network developers and suppliers; the efficient and uninterrupted operation of RIM's network operations centers; risks associated with our international operations; foreign exchange risks; risks relating to competition and other factors set forth in the risk factors and MD&A sections in RIM's filings with the SEC and Canadian Securities Regulators.

We base our forward-looking statements on information currently available to us and we do not assume any obligation to update them except as required by law.

I will now turn the call over to Jim.

James L. Balsillie

Thank you, Edel. We are pleased with the strong results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, with revenue of $3.4 billion, up 53% over the prior year and adjusted earnings per share of $0.98, slightly higher than we forecasted on the last conference call.

Throughout the quarter we saw strong, ongoing support for our approximately 475 carrier and distribution partners around the world; we announced a number of new products, including BES 5.0, and BlackBerry Tour; we hosted the eighth annual wireless enterprise symposium and made dramatic progress in the penetration of new market segments.

Approximately 3.8 million BlackBerry net subscriber accounts were added during the quarter, up 65% from the same quarter last year and in line with expectations. BIS subscriber base has grown steadily over the past couple of quarters and in Q1 approximately 80% of net new subscriber account additions came from the non-enterprise customers. These customers now represent over half of the total BlackBerry subscriber account base.

International markets, which tend to be more weighted to prosumer BIS plans, were strong in Q1 and we are encouraged by the growth we see in many regions, especially Latin America, Middle East, and parts of Asia. In addition, the first quarter can be seasonally lighter for New Edge net additions due to corporate customers starting new budget cycles in January and having made larger-than-normal purchases heading into the year-end. Similarly, the budget cycles for government purchasing peaked in the fall, which can have a positive impact on the enterprise business in the timeframe, given the large and growing presence of the BlackBerry solution in this market segment.

Inventory in carrier channels continues to be lean and in some cases, we are seeing ongoing reductions in channel inventory levels. The absolute level of inventory in the channel at the end of Q1 was similar to levels at the end of Q4 and we expect to maintain this low level into Q2. While we typically see a slowdown in the summer months due to normal seasonality, we expect to ship between 8.1 and 8.7 BlackBerry smartphones and add between 3.8 and 4.1 net new subscriber accounts in Q2, reflecting the strong demand that we see across multiple channels, new product launches that are scheduled in the quarter, and planned carrier promotions throughout the summer and into the fall.

Read the rest of this transcript for free on seekingalpha.com