Back in BlackBerry: Scrappy mobile underdog posts surprise profit

When John Chen took over as CEO, BlackBerry was hemorrhaging cash and in a major downward spiral. Over the past year-plus, however, Chen has helped the company get its financial act together and on Friday BlackBerry posted a surprise profit of $0.04 per share, or $0.08 more than the consensus estimate of a $0.04 loss.

DON’T MISS: BlackBerry’s new phone is nothing special… but something much cooler is in the works

“Our focus this past year was on getting our financial house in order while creating a multi-year growth strategy and investing in our product portfolio,” Chen said on Friday in a prepared statement. “We now have a very good handle on our margins, and our product roadmaps have been well received.”

If there’s one downside to BlackBerry’s earnings, it’s that its mobile device sales remain very low. On the quarter, the company recognized revenue on 1.3 million BlackBerry phone sales, with 1.6 million devices sold to customers. This is unchanged from a year ago when the company also recognized revenue on 1.3 million BlackBerry phones, although back then BlackBerry also said it sold 3.4 million phones to customers.

Just because BlackBerry phones remain a tiny niche market, however, doesn’t mean the company is in trouble. Chen has made aggressive moves to lessen the reliance on hardware sales for the company’s profits and to focus the company’s efforts more on enterprise security software for mobile devices.

Related stories

BlackBerry's new phone is nothing special… but something much cooler is in the works

World's most secure Android phone vows to 'replace' and 'dominate' BlackBerry

This may be the best celebrity endorsement BlackBerry has ever received

More from BGR: Watch: Man takes one selfie for every mile on a 2,600-mile hike, turns it into an incredible timelapse video

This article was originally published on BGR.com