RIM shares soar 16 per cent as investors regain confidence

Just over a month to go before launch of BlackBerry 10 devices

Shares in BlackBerry maker RIM received a rare boost on the Toronto stock exchange last night [November 22nd 2012] amid renewed optimism over its next range of smartphones. RIM shares, which have now risen in the last seven straight trading sessions, rose to their highest level since May ending the day at C$12. Nasdaq, where RIM’s shares are also traded and where volumes usually top those in Toronto, was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.At one point the company’s stock was up more than 16 per cent, with the rally sparked by National Bank analyst Kris Thompson who boosted his price target to C$15 (£9) from C$12.

Thompson believes that there is more money to be made in the stock ahead of the early 2013 launch of the make-or-break new line of devices.

In recent years, RIM has struggled to compete with the iPhone and devices running on Google’s Android OS.

But in just over a month’s time, on 30th January 2013 (see here), it will launch its long-awaited new BlackBerry handsets, with the event taking place simultaneously in different countries.

RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system will also be unveiled.

Since the summer of this year Canadian tycoon Prem Watsa, dubbed the ‘Warren Buffet of the North’ and who is also a RIM director, has significantly ramped up his own shareholding in the troubled phone maker through his investment vehicle Fairfax Financial Holdings.

It is now RIM’s single biggest shareholder with around a 10 per cent stake.

RIM, meanwhile, has been bedevilled with speculation that – with its share hitherto in the doldrums – it was ripe for a takeover.

Although the BlackBerry has been knocked off its perch by Apple’s iPhone and Google Android handsets, the company still boast a vast library of 11,000-plus patents, 78 million subscribers and 56 million BlackBerry Messenger users, all of which could provide any potential buyers (including Apple, Google and Microsoft) with strategic leverage.