FILE PHOTO: The Blackberry logo is seen on a smarphone in front of a displayed stock graph in this illustration taken February 5, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
(Reuters) - Canada's BlackBerry beat first-quarter revenue estimates on Wednesday, driven by a resilient demand for cybersecurity services in the wake of growing online threats.
U.S.-listed shares of the company, which provides cybersecurity and data protection services to enterprises and governments, rose 7.2% after the bell.
Over the past few months, companies such as the car industry technology provider CDK, UnitedHealth Group's Change Healthcare unit and Live Nation Entertainment's Ticketmaster unit faced large-scale data breaches.
Despite the wider slowdown in tech-spending, high-profile hacks are forcing companies and government agencies to amp up their cybersecurity spending to safeguard their data against hackers and malware, boosting demand for cybersecurity firms such as BlackBerry.
The Waterloo-based company's quarterly revenue stood at $144 million, beating analysts' average estimate of $134.1 million, according to LSEG data.
The company reported an adjusted net loss of 3 cents per share for the quarter ended May 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of a loss of 4 cents.
BlackBerry expects second-quarter revenue in the range of $136 million to $144 million, whose mid-point is below analysts' estimate of $142.4 million.
In its cybersecurity unit, which provides intelligent security software to enterprises and governments, the company expects second-quarter revenue to be between $82 million and $86 million.
It reiterated its full-year 2025 revenue and profit forecast.
Separately, BlackBerry teamed up with Advanced Micro Devices in April to develop a robotic system for the industrial and healthcare sectors.
(Reporting by Priyanka.G in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
