TORONTO – Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, forecast second-quarter revenue and profit Thursday that missed analysts’ estimates, and said it will cut jobs as a lack of new models prompts consumers to buy rival devices.

The stock fell as much as 16 percent in late trading after RIM said profit this quarter will be 75 cents to $1.05 a share. Analysts had predicted $1.40, excluding some costs, according to a Bloomberg survey. Revenue will be $4.2 billion to $4.8 billion in the three months through August, RIM said, compared with the average estimate of $5.47 billion.

RIM is losing market share in the U.S. to Apple’s iPhone and handsets with Google’s Android software, in part because it hasn’t introduced a major new BlackBerry model since August. Cheaper Google phones are also making inroads into Latin America, Asia and Europe, threatening the popularity of less expensive BlackBerry models like the Curve.

The forecast “means new devices won’t make it into the second quarter,” said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at MKM Partners in Stamford, Conn. He has a “buy” rating on the stock. “This is a quarter they really needed new devices to get them in there and they won’t.”

RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, plunged as much as $5.73 to $29.60 in late trading, after closing at $35.33 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has lost 39 percent this year.

RIM has come under increasing scrutiny from investors after its stock slumped, the company lost phone market share and its new PlayBook tablet computer, a rival to Apple’s iPad, was criticized by technology columnists. Last week, investor Northwest & Ethical Investments called for RIM to separate the roles of chairman and chief executive officer and to name an independent board member to the chairman’s post.

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The company said Thursday it plans to eliminate an unspecified number of jobs and make organizational changes to accelerate product introduction.

“RIM’s business is profitable and remains solid overall with growing market share in numerous markets around the world and a strong balance sheet,” co-CEO Jim Balsillie said in a statement. “With the new products scheduled for launch in the next few months and realigning our cost structure, RIM will see strong profit growth in the latter part of fiscal 2012.”

Full-year profit will be $5.25 to $6 a share, excluding some costs, RIM said, down from a previous forecast of $7.50. Analysts predicted $6.24.

RIM’s share of U.S. smartphone subscribers dropped 4.7 percentage points to 25.7 percent in April from three months earlier, according to ComScore Inc.

“RIM remains caught in a vacuum near-term as it is forced to discount its aging smartphone portfolio in order to move volume and clear inventory,” Ehud Gelblum, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York, said in a note before the results. “New products don’t kick in for another one to two quarters to absorb some of the margin pressure” from discounted phones, he said. Gelblum has an “equal-weight” rating on the stock.

Last month, RIM unveiled a new version of its Bold phone with the physical keyboard loved by BlackBerry users and the touch screen that made the iPhone popular. RIM said sales will start this summer.

The company said it shipped 500,000 PlayBooks last quarter after starting sales on April 19. Analysts predicted sales of 350,000 units, the average of six estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Net income last quarter was $695 million, or $1.33 a share, compared with $769 million, or $1.38, a year earlier.

 


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