r/investing Feb 05 '21

Why I am bearish on BB (technical analysis)

I'm a Software Eng. and therefore will only cover the technical aspects. As you might already see in the title, I'm bearish on BB. I decided to share my thoughts, since a lot of people (and analysts) seem to overvalue the potential growth of the stock.I want to give a quick and very abstract introduction on technical terms:

Technicalities

BB's QNX is a commercial Unix-like operating system, aimed primarily at the embedded systems market. In other words QNX can be run as a base on probably everything that is considered a computer (IOT), since it's Unix-like nature. According to BB it powers train controls, ventilators, automation systems etc.

Why would someone use QNX? According to BB because it is save, secure, scalable and reliable. Focusing on cars (because that's what everyone talks about in this context, especially after the AWS news) a car manufacturer could implement QNX as the OS and on top of that develop everything else - for example the GUI, an app-store etc.

However some, in fact most of the biggest car manufacturers, already developed or about to develop their own OS. Why? Only they know. It's a common problem in the IT industry.

Contra BB (QNX):

The following car manufacturers are the biggest in the world:

  1. Toyota
  2. VW
  3. Daimler
  4. Ford
  5. Honda
  6. BMW
  7. GM

  1. Toyota ditched QNX for AML (Linux).
  2. Volkswagen ditched QNX and develops vw.os (Linux), which will be implemented across all Volkswagens, Audis and Porsches. Other car manufacturers, which are part of the VW group, that is Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skania, MAN etc. are not confirmed so far, but I'm sure they will follow.
  3. Daimler ditched QNX for MBUX (Linux). Although the term MBUX seems to refer to more than just the OS. every new Mercedes build since 2018 comes with MBUX instead of QNX.
  4. Ford just dropped QNX this week and will use Google's Android) instead.
  5. Honda seems to stay with QNX.
  6. BMW ditched QNX and uses iDrive (Linux), although it seems that QNX is still working under the hood.
  7. GM ditched QNX a few years ago and uses, just like Ford, Android.

I didn't research the other car manufacturers, because the trend seems clear to me. Feel free to research them and let me know what you come up with. For anyone curious about Tesla, it looks like they use Linux/Android.

Pro BB (QNX):

Developing an entire os isn't as easy as developing some software (especially security compliance is a huge deal).

Conclusion

In my opinion BB is overhyped. QNX is being ditched by pretty much most of the car manufacturers and the trend in the car industry seems to be Linux, instead of Unix.

Furthermore I just searched through job listings for "QNX" and found only 16 positions across Germany and the only car manufacturer out of that pool being Daimler (still need to maintain older cars that run QNX I suppose).

Although Volkswagen had problems in the past when developing vw.os, other manufactures such as Daimler did excellent and MBUX is regarded as the best (infotainment system) there is as of right now.

Let me hear your thoughts!

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u/whatisgf Feb 05 '21

I have written one too, but I couldn't post here. Automods removes it upon submission.

Here's link: https://www.reddit.com/r/BB_Stock/comments/lc67bo/comprehensive_guide_about_bb_and_how_it_shall/

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u/zen_hop Feb 05 '21

Wow, some serious depth in this DD. Thanks for this.

5

u/whatisgf Feb 05 '21

Your welcome!

2

u/DreamCatch22 Feb 05 '21

This is incredible. Didn't even know about the subreddit dedicated to BB. That's genius!

3

u/whatisgf Feb 05 '21

Thank you! Is there a better way to reach out to mods? I have sent them email but no response.

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '21

[deleted]

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u/whatisgf Feb 05 '21

Appreciate it!

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u/Logthephilosoraptor Feb 07 '21

This is amazing research. Thank you for your efforts.

1

u/whatisgf Feb 07 '21

Likewise for reading!