Research in Motion (RIM) has reported the results of a very successful financial quarter. The company enjoyed tremendous growth in both revenue and profits. In addition, it is going to reduce its stock price by tripling the number of shares that are available.
Its net income for the quarter ending June 2 was $223 million, or $1.17 per share. For comparison, RIM earned $129 million, or 67 cents per share, during the same period of last year. That's a 73% year over year increase.
These profits came from an equally strong increase in revenue. RIM took in $1.082 billion, up 77% from $613 million in revenue in the same quarter of last year.
More BlackBerries
And the good news for RIM didn't end there. During the quarter, RIM shipped approximately 2.4 million devices, and its closing in on shipping its 20 Millionth BlackBerry.
The total number of BlackBerry subscriber accounts in the quarter increased by approximately 1.2 million to over 9 million total subscriber accounts.
"After completing our first billion dollar quarter, we are now preparing to ship the 20 millionth BlackBerry handset this summer," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO at RIM.
Announcing a Stock Split
RIM's stock is currently selling for around $165, and its Board of Directors seems to think that's too high, so it has approved a 3-for-1 stock split.
This will be implemented as a stock dividend in which shareholders will receive two common shares of the company for each share already held. This will be payable on August 20 to shareholders at the close of business on August 17.
The total number of RIM common shares currently outstanding is 186 million. Adjusting for the stock split, the total number will be 558 million.
Looking Ahead
RIM is looking ahead to another outstanding quarter. It expects revenue for the period ending September 1 to be in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.365 billion. Subscriber account additions in the second quarter are expected to be in the range of 1.325 to 1.375 million.
The company says its earnings for the second quarter are expected to be in the range of $1.37 to $1.49 per share, or 45 cents to 49 cents per share on a post-split basis, factoring the effective 3-for-1 stock split.