TORONTO — Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. deepened their plunge Friday, falling 19 percent to $7.39 in New York.
The rout came after a steep after-hours selloff following dismal results released Thursday.
The latest carnage puts RIM’s market capitalization at just less than $4 billion, less than one-twentieth of its value at its zenith in 2008.
The selling pressure triggered a short-sale-restriction alert from Nasdaq.
Analysts at National Bank Financial, in a note early Friday, said shares were trading well under book value of about $8 a share. The bank said that should help lift the stock eventually. Other analysts weren’t so optimistic.
“RIM’s prospects appear to be turning from bad to worse,” wrote Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts in a Friday-morning report. After RIM delayed on Thursday the launch of its BlackBerry 10 operating system, Bank of America said it does “not believe RIM will be able to build its own ecosystem” to challenge smartphone market leaders Apple Inc. and Google Inc.’s Android, and new competition from upstart player Microsoft Corp.
In a statement, RIM said it disagreed with the assessment and expects “customers will be delighted by the quality, variety, and quantity of applications on the BlackBerry 10 platform.” Dow Jones Newswire
