Piper Jaffray Previews Research In Motion (RIMM) Q2 Earnings

September 2, 2008 11:06 AM EDT

Piper Jaffray is out with a research note this morning previewing Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) Q2 earnings, which are expected out Thursday, September 25. The firm lowered its price target on Research In Motion from $146 to $125 and maintained a Neutral rating.

The firm cites channel checks in August as indicating "continued steady sell-through trends for BlackBerry products at the four largest U.S. carriers". Piper believes Research In Motion will meet its Q2 guidance on better sales of the Curve at Verizon and Sprint , decent sales at AT&T and continued strength in the Curve, Pearl and Pearl II at T-Mobile.

Piper raised its November quarter device sell-in estimates from 6.9 million to 7.6 million units given the firm's "expectations of the Bold launching at AT&T in early October, the Thunder or Storm launching at Verizon in October, and the Kickstart launching at T-Mobile in October..."

Notably, Piper said it trialed Research In Motion's 3G Bold last week and called it "a solid addition, but not materially better when compared to other BlackBerry devices." Further, the firm said it was "impressed with the quality of the screen", but was not "convinced the Bold is a strong upgrade to the still popular Curve given it is much larger with somewhat similar overall functionality."

Based on the higher device sell-in estimates for BlackBerry products, Piper raised its FY09 and FY10 EPS estimates from $3.66 and $4.86 to $3.78 and $5.00, respectively. The Street is estimating Research In Motion will report FY09 EPS of $3.81 and FY10 EPS of $5.41.

Research In Motion Limited engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of wireless solutions for the mobile communications market worldwide.

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