Toronto — BlackBerry is finally starting to look like a real software company. After three years of acquisitions, lay-offs and trying to convince customers it could do more than build smartphones, the Canadian company’s software revenue and profit margins are growing in the way CEO John Chen wants them to. The stock too: it rose the most in 15 months. BlackBerry surpassed its target of $640m in software revenue for the financial year 2017, achieving Chen’s goal of increasing sales from that division by 30% in the year. It posted profit of 4c a share, beating out the highest estimate from analysts, and said it would be profitable for its entire 2018 financial year, which began this month. Gross margins were about 60%, the company said in a statement on Friday. BlackBerry expects to achieve margins of 70% for 2018, chief financial officer Steve Capelli said on a call with analysts. BlackBerry surged as much as 13% to $7.82. It was the biggest intra-day gain since December 2015. The st...
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