BlackBerry scores 15% gain on its first trading day

On its first trading day as BlackBerry, the stock of the smartphone and tablet manufacturer soared 15%. Part of the reason was an upgrade by Bernstein Research to "Outperform". It was the first time in three years that Bernstein has had such a rating on Research In Motion or BlackBerry. The company also raised its price target on the stock from $12 to $22. In addition, news that the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 had gone very well, had buyers lined up to buy the stock almost as though it were the white variant of the Z10, which has sold out in some U.K. stores.

The new ticker symbol is BBRY on NASDAQ. The stock started out life as Research In Motion and traded as high as $140 in 2008 before dropping to under $7 this fall. The shares closed Monday up $1.96 to $14.98 for a gain of 15.02% on the day. Nearly 83 million shares traded hands. 
 

"We upgrade BlackBerry to outperform today as we believe BB 10 is set for a strong launch. Even if the long-term prospects for the platform are very uncertain, we believe all is in place for BlackBerry 10 to enjoy a great debut. The strength of this launch is overlooked by investors, creating strong opportunity to buy BlackBerry. We believe BlackBerry should trade in the $20-$25 range once a decent launch for Blackberry 10 and a stabilized trajectory for fiscal year 2014 are priced in."-Pierre Ferragu, Bernstein analyst

Not all analysts are bullish on the stock. GMP Securities analyst Deepak Kaushal cut his rating from "Reduce" to "Hold" as he sees little in BlackBerry 10 that will attract smartphone buyers back from competing platforms.