U.S. stock market indexes opened mostly higher Thursday due to second-quarter growth in the U.S. economy. Consumption remains the main driver of the economy, with a strong labor market and low inflation.
Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY, Financial) traded more than 12% higher on the back of the company's second-quarter results. EPS came in at five cents and revenue was $249 million, beating estimates by five cents and $29.09 million respectively. Revenue, however, declined 29.3% year over year.
As a result of its transformation to a software company, BlackBerry achieved historical highs in total software and services revenue as well as in gross margins. Further, it achieved its highest non-GAAP operating margin in the last five years.
Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen emphasized on the progress made in its growth initiatives.Ă‚
"Our enterprise billings grew 19% year over year driven by our Unified Endpoint Management platform," he said. "We secured important design wins in our automotive business, and we expanded our sales channels for our Radar IOT solution. In our licensing businesses, we have a growing pipeline of opportunities with our BlackBerry Secure software and our IP portfolio."
Gainers
- AbbVie Inc. (ABBV, Financial)
- McCormick & Co. Inc. (MKC, Financial)
- Abbott Laboratories (ABT, Financial)
- American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL)
- McDonald's Corp. (MCD, Financial)
- Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN, Financial)
- Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL, Financial)
Losers
- Western Digital Corp. (WDC, Financial)
- Â Scana Corp.”‹ (SCG)
- Johnson Controls International PLC (JCI, Financial)
- McKesson Corp. (MCK)
- Brighthouse Financial Inc. (BHF)
- AmerisourceBergen Corp. ”‹(ABC)
- Mylan NV (MYL, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded mostly higher. The FTSE 100 gained 0.13%, France's CAC 40 climbed 0.22% and Germany’s DAX was up 0.37%. The IBEX 35 declined 0.39%.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and China’s Shanghai Composite Index were down, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 and India's BSE Sensex closed higher. Â
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
