Perhaps indicative of the strength of the wireless market, the shares of a maker of handheld wireless devices have outpaced those of a company that develops web and wireless solutions for the first nine months of the year. The Ottawa Business Journal monitors the stocks of 53 local publicly traded companies throughout the year.
After leading the pack for much of 2004, Prospectus Group was bumped from the leading position by Waterloo-based Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry e-mail pager. RIM maintains an operation in Bells Corners that employs about 80 people.
RIM's stock soared 122.2 per cent in the first nine months of 2004, closing Sept. 30 at $96.34. It closed out 2003 at $43.36. The stock has been riding a wave of higher revenues and earnings for much of the year. The company earned US$70.6 million in the second quarter, on revenues of US$310 million. It's forecasting sales between US$340 million and US$360 million in the current quarter. More than 1.6 million users around the world subscribe to its BlackBerry messaging service, according to the company.
[2004-10-13] BlackBerry Maker Takes Top Spot
