BlackBerry Stock Increases by 15% on First Trading Day

Although share prices declined after BlackBerry 10's launch on January 30, the company's first trading day under the brand 'BlackBerry' has seen its stock prices surge by 15 percent.

Previously known as Research In Motion, its share prices increased partly due to Bernstein Research upgrading the company's rating to "Outperform", which is the first time in three years the firm has been given such a rating.

Bernstein increased its price target on BlackBerry stock from $12 to $22. Comparatively, the stock for Research In Motion traded as high as $140 in 2008, but dropped to under $7 this fall due to the dominance of fellow ecosystems including Android and iOS. The shares closed on Monday to a jump of $1.96 to $14.98, representing a 15.02 percent gain; almost 83 million shares were traded.

"We upgrade BlackBerry to outperform today as we believe BB 10 is set for a strong launch," said Bernstein analyst, Pierre Ferragu. "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."

GMP Securities analyst Deepak Kaushal, however, changed his rating from "Reduce" to "Hold" for BlackBerry. He believes BlackBerry 10 doesn't offer enough to win back its lost consumer base from competing mobile platforms.

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