Remember the BlackBerry?
The Canadian company that made smartphones once ubiquitous is now focused on cyber security and software, having closed the smartphone business in recent years.
And suddenly, Blackberry shares are a hot commodity. The shares rose 28.42 percent on Monday to $ 18.03, the highest price in nearly 10 years. They have gained 175% since the beginning of 2021.
The company told Canadian securities regulators that it is unaware of the reasons for the increase.
The gains come from the shares of Gamestop, the video game store company, which skyrocketed thanks to day traders, speculators and investors driven by Reddit who embarked to pursue the gains. Gamestop shares rose 328 percent year to date. At its peak on Monday, the shares were up 145% from Friday’s close. At the end of the day, the shares returned much of those gains. After being briefly negative for the day, the shares rose 18 percent at the close.
Posts in the Reddit r / wallstreetbets group, the billboard widely credited for triggering the Gamestop rally, indicate a lot of enthusiasm for the action. Some of the justifications given by posters predicting that inventory will continue to increase are based on recent developments at the company. Others are just ridiculous.
“TASTE OF 2B IS NICE AESTHETIC,” said one user, citing the company’s symbol.
Last year, Blackberry announced a multi-year partnership with Amazon’s web services to co-develop the BlackBerry IVY, a new “cloud-connected smart vehicle data platform” that offers car makers a “secure way” standardized way to read and analyze vehicle sensor data “. Last week, the company resolved an intellectual property lawsuit that the company had filed against Facebook, accusing the social network of infringing on the Blackberry’s messaging technology.