Things might actually be turning around for BlackBerry

For a company whose death has been declared multiple times, BlackBerry looked pretty good Friday. The company reported its financials for the quarter that beat all expectations and rekindled a belief that chief executive John Chen’s reputation as a turnaround expert can stay intact. While it’s far too early to call it a full comeback for the once-dominant smartphone company, investors were cheered by news of stronger sales in hardware and software. The stock closed more than 10 percent higher on Friday, ending regular trading at $8.61. The company, overall, reported a net loss of $89 million — an improvement form the $148 million the company lost in the same period last year. Despite that, investors saw much to be optimistic. BlackBerry is, truly, working on becoming more of a software company, trading on its still-sterling reputation for being security conscious. BlackBerry has worked to put its device management software on competitors phones, broadening its reach and reduce its reliance on breaking into a smartphone market dominated by Apple and Samsung. The company reported that it made $162 million in revenue on software and services, an increase of 183 percent from the same period last year.