Blackberry Surge Leads a D20 Stock Index Rebound
Blackberry’s (BBRY) announcement of its sixth consecutive quarter beating analysts’ expectations helped the Driverless Transportation’s Weekly Stock Index (D20) rebound from a slight loss the previous week. Blackberry was the D20’s leading price percentage gainer as it gained 9.6 percent and closed the week at $7.75 a share.
Blackberry continues to focus its business on software development as it sheds pieces of its iconic but aging and dwindling mobile phone handset business. One of the cornerstones of that software business strategy is its QNX system, a vehicle automation platform that its partner Ford (F) is using to further its driverless vehicle efforts.
Ford reinforced its dedication to creating driverless vehicles last week by hiring 400 engineers for its newly created Research and Engineering Centre in Ottawa, Canada. Many of those engineers came to Ford directly from Blackberry, furthering the partnership between the two D20 constituents.
Fifteen price-gaining stocks countered the effects of five price losers and pushed the D20 to a 1.2-percent jump, allowing it to close the week at 192.70. The D20 outgained the Dow, which added 0.3 percent to its value, and the S&P 500, which closed at 2362.72, up 0.8 percent.
Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.
Up-and-Comers:
NIO, a Chinese-backed startup previously known as NextEV, has announced that it will offer a driverless electric car in the U.S. by 2020. Its U.S. CEO, Padasree Warrior, announced that D20 members Mobileye (MBLY) and NVIDIA (NVDA) will join them as key partners.