UPDATE: Citigroup Upgrades BlackBerry Ltd. to Neutral, Raises PT as Long-Term Thesis has Played Out

In a report published Thursday, Citigroup analyst Jim Suva upgraded the rating on

from Sell to Neutral, and raised the price target from $7.00 to $9.00. In the report, Citigroup noted, “We are upgrading BBRY from Sell to Neutral. Our Long term thesis of market share losses amidst BYOD threat has largely played out as the stock is now down -75%, -18% and -32% in 2011, 2012 & 2013, (vs the market up flat, +13% &+19%) respectively. We note the company's Board of Directors has signed a letter of intent for the company to be purchased at $9/share (our revised target price) by a Fairfax-led consortium. While we continue to remain concerned about the risk to financing and potential for the deal price to go lower, we note the due diligence process could provide additional information on such items as patents and potential monetization opportunities of these patents, details around service contracts with carriers.” BlackBerry Ltd. closed on Wednesday at $7.96.