BlackBerry shares jump again on deal reports

Adam Shell | USA TODAY

NEW YORK -- Shares of struggling mobile phone maker BlackBerry are on the rise amid chatter that the company is looking to fast-track its efforts to find a buyer for the one-time king of the PDA market.

The stock closed up more than 5% Wednesday and was up about 2.5% in early afternoon trading Thursday.

Wednesday afternoon before the closing bell, The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Blackberry has narrowed its list of potential bidders and was pushing to get a deal done soon, perhaps as early as November.

However, the report stressed that there is no guarantee that bids for the company will materialize or that the company's hoped-for timeline could be met. USA TODAY was unable to confirm the WSJ's report.

Microsoft's decision to buy Nokia's handheld business earlier this week took one potential Blackberry suitor off the table, analysts say.

Back in August, the company's board announced that it had put together a special committee to explore "strategic alternatives," which included joint ventures, strategic partnerships or an outright "sale" of the company.

Blackberry has seen its fortunes sink amid competition from rivals such as Apple and Samsung, which now dominate the market, thanks to whiz-bang technology in an increasingly app-filled world.

Blackberry was late to embrace the "all-touch" screen interface that has revolutionized the mobile phone market. As a result, it is now an also-ran in the competitive space.

In March it launched the Z10 smartphone, an all-touch-screen device, in an effort to revive its fortunes. But the new product offering has received a cool reception from consumers, analysts and Wall Street.

A global survey released today by Canaccord pointed to very weak sales of the Z10 and other BlackBerry phones. Citing high inventory for Blackberry smartphones, the firm reiterated its "sell" rating on the stock and its $8-per-share price target.

Blackberry shares were down 9.4% for 2013 heading into today's trading sessions. The stock, once a leader on Wall Street, took a turn for the worse this year when the Z10 was released on March 22, falling almost 8% that day. The company's market value is now roughly $5.5 billion.

In late June, when it released its fiscal first-quarter earnings, the company remarked on the company's difficult road ahead. "The smartphone market remains highly competitive," the company said, "making it difficult to estimate units, revenue and levels of profitability. ... Based on the competitive market dynamics ..., the company anticipates it will generate an operating loss in the second quarter."