TORONTO, May 20, 2026, 13:06 EDT
BlackBerry Ltd’s U.S.-listed shares rose on Wednesday, staying close to year highs, after the company said its AtHoc crisis-communications software renewed key U.S. government cloud-security approval.
BB shares were last up roughly 0.5% to $6.24 on the NYSE, trading between $6.10 and $6.37 for the day, with volume topping 27 million shares, according to market data. The move keeps the stock well under its 52-week high of $6.64 and well above the 52-week low near $3.12.
BlackBerry is pointing to fresh FedRAMP re-certification for its AtHoc service, which handles government and critical-infrastructure communications—areas where the company still pushes its trust angle. The company said AtHoc completed 2026 Class D High re-certification, meeting the U.S. government’s cloud security standards for federal agencies. That “High” bar is for cloud services with sensitive unclassified data that, if compromised, could seriously disrupt operations or public safety. ACCESS Newswire
Ramon Pinero, general manager at BlackBerry AtHoc, said the renewal showed the platform’s “security rigor.” Dubhe Beinhorn, senior vice president for public sector at BlackBerry Secure Communications, called compliant infrastructure “essential” because agencies are up against more complex threats. ACCESS Newswire
BlackBerry’s CFO Tim Foote and QNX President John Wall are scheduled for a near-term investor pitch. They’ll speak at the CIBC Technology & Innovation Conference in Toronto on Thursday at 9:10 a.m. ET. After that, they’re listed for a Baird event in New York on June 2.
BlackBerry isn’t trading like an old phone play now. Investors are watching QNX, its real-time OS business, as well as Secure Communications, which sells secure messaging and emergency-response software.
QNX revenue rose 20% to $78.7 million in the fourth quarter, with its royalty backlog at about $950 million, Reuters reported in April. CEO John Giamatteo told Reuters the business deals with “highly regulated, complex” systems and said the company may consider “M&A tuck-ins” to boost QNX growth. Reuters
Competitive moves look mixed. BlackBerry is pushing further on embedded systems through Nvidia. In April, QNX said it had extended collaboration with Nvidia to integrate QNX OS for Safety 8.0 with Nvidia’s IGX Thor and Halos Safety Stack, targeting robotics, medtech and industrial edge-AI setups.
BlackBerry is a niche player in security software, unlike Palo Alto Networks or CrowdStrike. Palo Alto Networks shares were up 2.6% Wednesday, CrowdStrike climbed 4.0%. BlackBerry (BB) didn’t move as much, despite its government-certification headline.
Options on BlackBerry saw some buying but traders kept a lid on bullish bets. Moderately bullish flow, with call volume ahead of puts, was flagged by TheFly via TipRanks. Implied volatility landed in the top 25% of the 12-month range and traders bought more downside protection, according to the report.
The stock might have gotten ahead of analyst targets. Benzinga had a Hold consensus and a $5.02 average price target, which is under where shares traded on Wednesday. RBC Capital stayed at Sector Perform, saying it doesn’t see the name beating peers, and warned about auto-production delays and project deferrals as risks for QNX.
BlackBerry plans to release first-quarter fiscal 2027 results on June 25, according to its investor site. Investors looking for clues on QNX demand, government communications budgets and possible buybacks or acquisitions before then will focus on Thursday’s CIBC event.
