BlackBerry shares dip below $10 for first time since November

TORONTO – Shares of BlackBerry (TSX:BB) have fallen below the $10 mark a day after the smartphone maker’s chief executive officer, Thorsten Heins, encouraged investors to remain patient while the company navigates its planned recovery.

The Waterloo, Ont.,-based company’s stock was down more than four per cent, or 45 cents, at $9.75 on the Toronto Stock Exchange near midday.

The last time BlackBerry shares closed below $10 was on Nov. 20, and its stock reached a 52-week high of $17.80 in January around the time it launched its new smartphones.

On Tuesday, Heins spoke at the company’s annual meeting about BlackBerry’s strategy to become profitable once again.

The three-stage plan included pushing ahead with new products yet to be unveiled, focusing more on corporate customers, and opening the BlackBerry Messenger service later this summer to competing devices like Apple’s iPhone and smartphones on the Android operating system.

From there, Heins said the company aimed to return to profitability, which he called the third stage of the plan, but he stopped short of predicting when that would happen.