Microsoft (MSFT) More Likely to Bid on BlackBerry (BBRY) Following Nokia (NOK) Deal - Analyst
6:48 AM ET, 09/12/2013 - Street Insider
Microsoft might be taking a keen eye to BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) now more than ever.
Jefferies' Peter Misek thinks that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is more likely to purchase BlackBerry following the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) deal. The firm thinks that, by having Nokia's Devices & Services business and BlackBerry's key mobile assets, Microsoft would become: 1) the definitive #3 handset player with better carrier access and production economies of scale; 2) the leader in enterprise mobile devices with support from the U.S. gov't; 3) a key player in MDM, an area they would love to get into and purchasing private leaders in the space would be pricey.
As for the Canadian government, Misek thinks garnering support for a BlackBerry deal is on overdrive. The move is opposite of when Nortel went belly-up, becuase BlackBerry was ascending at the time. Currently, there's no immediate replacement for BlackBerry as a driver of job growh and innovation in Canada's tech segment. Misek notes, To turn it around a bidder would need to scale the handset business to a small niche player with R&D resources focused on MDM.
Other bidders may include IBM (NYSE: IBM), though Misek suspects the company doesn't want to get into commoditized hardware, and Samsung, which might want to diversify further away from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android, but would need a few more years to execute on the plan.
There's also a possibility of BlackBerry breaking into three pieces, which includes: 1) OS and consumer handsets, 2) BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), and 3) MD, BES, enterprise handsets, and global NOC/node network. On OS and handsets, Misek comments, an Asian vendor like ZTE or Lenovo could offset commoditization pressures by owning an OS with linkages to Android apps and a strong base in M2M. Patents, brand, and distribution might also have value.
Jefferies currently sees BlackBerry concluding its review process in November. The firm has BlackBerry at Buy with a price target of $15.
For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on BlackBerry click here. For more ratings news on BlackBerry click here.
Shares of BlackBerry closed at $10.43 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $8.57-$17.22. |
