BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) shares are trading higher in the premarket session on Thursday.
Yesterday, after the closing bell, the company reported first-quarter revenues of $144 million, which beat estimates of $134.052 million.
In the quarter under review, the company's Cybersecurity segment exceeded previously provided guidance at $85 million, with a gross margin of 59%.
Recently, several companies, including CDK, a technology provider for the car industry, UnitedHealth Group's (NYSE:UNH) Change Healthcare unit, and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.'s (NYSE:LYV) Ticketmaster unit, have experienced significant data breaches.
Despite a broader decline in tech spending, prominent cyberattacks are compelling companies and government agencies to increase their investments in cybersecurity, Reuters reported.
This heightened focus on protecting data from hackers and malware is driving up demand for cybersecurity firms like BlackBerry, the report added.
Cybersecurity ARR increased by 2% sequentially to $285 million; DBNRR increased sequentially for the third consecutive quarter to 87%, the company said.
In the second quarter, the company expects cybersecurity revenue between $82 million and $86 million. For fiscal year 2025, the company sees cybersecurity revenue of $350 million- $365 million.
Apart from this, Blackberry's IoT segment achieved 18% year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter. IoT revenue is expected to be between $50 million and $54 million in the second quarter, and $220 million to $235 million in fiscal year 2025.
The tech giant reported a first-quarter loss of 3 cents, beating the estimates for a 4 cents loss. It maintained its full-year 2025 revenue and profit forecast.
In a separate press release, the company said BlackBerry cybersecurity solutions detected and stopped 3.1 million cyberattacks (37,000 per day) in the first quarter of 2024. Between January and March 2024, BlackBerry detected 630,000 malicious hashes, representing a 40% increase from its previous reporting period.
Price Action: BB shares are trading higher by 3.62% to $2.30 premarket at last check Thursday.