Research in Motion (RIMM) today announced that its fourth quarter profit and sales more then doubled. This shows that the Blackberry maker has not been affected by the slowing US economy. For the quarter Research in Motion earned $412.5 million, or 72 cents per share, up from a profit of $187.4 million, or 33 cents per share, in the same period in the year prior. Revenue was up from $930 million to a staggering $1.88 billion. After hours RIMM stock has moved up 5% and is currently trading above $121 a share. The stock is up over 50% from its 52 week low of $80.20 hit back in January of this year. [Read more]

The stock market finished up its first quarter of the 2008 calender year with a positive note for the day, but the quarter overall was a mess. The S&P 500 lost 10% for the first three months of 2008 as worries of a recession and a subprime crisis has lead to continuous selling. This round goes to the bears. Below is a chart of the S&P 500 over the last three months, notice the steady downtrend of prices: Can the market make a comeback in the 2nd quarter of 2008? Only time can tell. [Read more]

The top stories from the week that was March 23rd – March 30th 2008 via MarketWatch.com: Bear Stearns Bid Gets Upped A Line at the Discount Window Unlucky Penny Courting Clear Channel Fire Sale For Ford Motorola Break Up Privacy and Personal Health [Read more]

Today the struggling handset business Motorola (MOT) has announced it will split itself into two publicly traded companies in an effort to end the long landslide the stock has seen in the recent years. Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor who has a history for making big changes happen has been the big backer for some sort of move from Motorola. The latest in his efforts is to gain control of four seats on the Motorola board, which has come with strong resistance. Ever since the Razr phone became popular Motorola has struggled to find a follow up hit. Its mobile devices business was number 1 until Samsung Electronics took the top spot last year. The company’s two main businesses will make up the two new publicly traded companies. One will... [Read more]

Citigroup yesterday made an interesting move when it upgraded Yahoo (YHOO) stock to a “buy” from “hold”, citing its opinion that Microsoft will have to tender its offer if it wants to seal the deal and buy out Yahoo. Even though Yahoo currently has no other competing bidders right now with Microsoft, it is believed that Yahoo is aggressively pursuing alternative routes for the company. The most likely outcome is that a marriage between Yahoo and Microsoft will occur, with one alternative being perhaps Yahoo tying up somehow with Time Warner. Citigroup’s new target for Yahoo stock is now $34 from $31. [Read more]