BlackBerry & ZTR Team Up to Offer Remote Railcar Monitoring

BlackBerry Limited BB recently announced that it is collaborating with ZTR Control Systems to develop a remote sensing device for railcars. The innovative offering is likely to improve the visibility of operations through an in-depth analysis of the underlying metrics to optimize asset utilization.  

Based in Ontario, Canada, ZTR is a privately-held company that provides monitoring and control systems for the railway and industrial off-road compact construction equipment markets. Its IoT division, in particular, offers a remote equipment monitoring system to modernize locomotives. BlackBerry aims to tap this unique technological prowess to develop a platform that will enable owners and operators to better manage their fleet, while improving battery consumption capabilities of the remote sensing device.   

Notably, the offering is likely to have an online dashboard that will facilitate users to track their railcars through location-based services leveraging the BlackBerry Radar asset-tracking solution. It is also likely to provide data for various other parameters, including motion, mileage, humidity, door open/close status and cargo capacity, which in turn will help operators to gauge the asset utilization metric.

The collaboration is set to unearth a new revenue-generating opportunity for BlackBerry by tapping a hitherto underserved market. In addition, the strategic partnership is likely to bring digital transformation of railroads and augment fleet efficiency, thereby improving overall profitability.

As a leading player in enterprise mobility management, BlackBerry is widely recognized for its productivity and security innovation. The company offers one of the most secure mobile enterprise solutions in the market through a broad portfolio of products and services. It leverages many elements of the extensive technology portfolio to offer best-in-class security and reliability of its solutions for the Enterprise of Things, including unified endpoint management, cybersecurity solutions, embedded systems, crisis communications, enterprise applications and related services, with hosting available on its global, scalable, secure network, and in the cloud. The current initiatives further portray its competence to tackle the economic adversities from the deadly virus attack.

We remain impressed with the adaptability and proactive approach of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Over the past year, the stock has lost 62.8% compared with the industry’s decline of 24.6%.

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader industry are InterDigital, Inc. IDCC, Viasat Inc. VSAT and Ubiquiti Inc. UI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

InterDigital has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 15%. It delivered a positive earnings surprise of 62%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

Viasat surpassed earnings estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average positive surprise being 402%.

Ubiquiti has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 12.5%. It delivered a positive earnings surprise of 5.7%, on average, in the trailing four quarters.

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