Research In Motion's shares rise after results but doubts linger on maker's competitive edge

Research In Motion's growing reliance on sales outside the United States left many analysts wondering about the BlackBerry maker's competitive edge, even as the company reported decent quarterly results.

Its shares opened as much as 4% on Friday, a slight gain after jumping in after-hours trade a day earlier.           

After the bell, the Canadian smart phone maker said net profit jumped 45% and it shipped 14.2 million devices in the three months to November 27.      

Its Nasdaq-listed shares traded 3.3% higher at $60.85 10 minutes into the trading day, while it gained 3.1 percent to C$61.50 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. 

Even so, analysts on Friday picked over RIM's relative weakness in the United States, the most saturated and valuable smart phone market, and its rising inventory levels, which RIM said was due to a burst of orders ahead of the Christmas shopping season. 

"Questions remain," says one note. "Momentum fading," warns another.

"While sell-in of new models, higher holiday inventory, and a larger international mix explains some of the increase, we continue to believe an inventory correction looms in RIM's future," Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum wrote in a note.   

He suggested the pullback could come in the current quarter or the next, which ends May 29.

That said, other analysts say RIM's pricing will serve it well in markets where smartphone penetration is not as deep.

"We're not of the camp that every next quarter is a peak, which has been getting pushed out by the bears all year long," said Todd Coupland from CIBC World Markets.

In a expanding market such as Indonesia, he said, a BlackBerry sells for around $300 compared with $600 for Apple's iPhone and devices running Google's Android operating system.

RIM said it would ship between 14.5 million and 15 million units in the current quarter.