With BlackBerry’s Automatic App Store Progressing, BB Stock Is A Buy

In the midst of many new signs that BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) The IVY initiative will be extremely lucrative, I remain very bullish on BB stocks.

IVY is the automatic application store that BlackBerry develops in partnership with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). The company is making significant progress on the project and expects to release meaningful information about it in early January.

Additionally, there are signs that investors and pundits are getting much more bullish on BB stocks.

More signs that IVY will be very successful

General Motors (NYSE:GM) said he plans to make $2 billion selling “subscription services” for cars Techcrunch reported Oct. 8. Additionally, the automaker believes the services can generate up to $25 billion a year by 2030, according to the website.

And earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that automakers are “increasingly developing vehicles as digital devices, with the ability to remotely deliver new services and features to the car that could make it easier and more fun to use, while generating additional revenue.

Ford (NYSE:F) Doug Field, who worked at You’re here (NASDAQ:TSLA) for five years, cited self-driving systems as a service for which drivers will pay a subscription fee. He added that “the content will be absolutely à la carte”.

In other words, drivers will be able to individually order automatic subscription services, just like an owner of Apples (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone can purchase apps individually from the company app store.

As I have said in the past, IVY will be one of the leading automotive app stores. BlackBerry, with its QNX operating system which is currently present in nearly 200 million vehicles, is well positioned to enable automakers and other application developers to sell subscription services to drivers.

BlackBerry makes significant progress on IVY

In a blog post published on October 29, BlackBerry said it had “released an early access version of the platform to select ecosystem partners.” The company added that “Earlier this fall, BlackBerry also released a product demonstration of solutions powered by BlackBerry IVY, focusing on electrification use cases. This demo was presented to several automotive customers and partners.

The post also said the company launched the BlackBerry IVY™ Innovation Fund to invest in start-ups that leverage knowledge from the BlackBerry IVY platform. In the meantime, the company has partnered with several companies that have developed products for vehicles, including Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) GEICO and TELUS Communications.

A number of interesting start-ups are also BlackBerry partners on IVY, including Electra Vehicles, which has developed a product for electric vehicle battery management, and Ridecell, which has a “platform powering digital transformation.” and automation for fleet-focused businesses.” Another promising start-up partnering with BlackBerry on IVY is CarIQ which enables “secure vehicle-based payments”.

Importantly for BB stock owners, BlackBerry has indicated plans to publicly demonstrate IVY at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – scheduled for January 5-8. Chances are the demonstration – and new information BlackBerry may release in conjunction with it – will make many investors much more bullish on the company’s stock.

More bullish on BB stocks

There have been several signs recently that investors and pundits are, overall, increasingly bullish on Canadian business.

First, stocks jumped nearly 18% in the month ending Nov. 5.

Meanwhile, on October 26, Looking for Alpha published one of his rare bullish columns on the company’s stocks. (Before the October 26 column, the website had published 11 articles whose authors were labeled as “neutral”, “bearish” or “very bearish” towards BB stocks. Before October 26, the last article by an author bullish towards the name was published on June 30.) Seeking Alpha column author, Monplanet Capital Managementestimates that the shares are currently worth $23 each.

And although the majority of articles recently published by InvestorPlace on BlackBerry are negative, two of the website’s authors other than myself have recently been bullish on the company. In his Oct. 22 column, Mark R. Hake, a CFA, wrote that the company’s stock “could be worth up to…$15.22 within two years.” He noted that BlackBerry reported “positive free cash flow (FCF) in its second fiscal quarter.” Meanwhile, the title of David Moadel’s October 26 article proclaimed that “BlackBerry has evolved into a compelling investment in cybersecurity.”

Finally, on October 18, The street published an article titled “3 reasons to buy BlackBerry Stock Now”.

The basics of BB shares

IVY, BlackBerry’s expectedly very lucrative automatic app store, is progressing well and will soon be publicly unveiled. Meanwhile, investors and pundits seem to be getting much more bullish on the company’s stock.

As a result, the stage is set for a big rally in BB stocks over the medium term, making BB stocks a good buy for most investors.

As of the date of publication, Larry Ramer held a long position in BB stock. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, subject to InvestorPlace.com publishing guidelines.

Larry has researched and written about US stocks for 14 years. He was employed by The Fly and Israel’s largest business newspaper, Globes. Among its highly successful contrarian picks are Solar stocks, Roku and Snap. You can reach him on StockTwits at @larryramer. Larry started writing columns for InvestorPlace in 2015.