Research In Motion: Only Bottom Feeders Need Apply

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Research In Motion(RIMM) is a stock in freefall. I can't believe that anyone has held on to this stock but there are still some who pray for a dead-cat bounce from this dead horse.

I try to invest by being rational and unemotional but it seems there are some that consider this company a pity investment. I'd like to share a chart I drew using Barchart that compares the trading prices of RIMM and its peers over the past 3 1/2 years. While RIMM fell 90%, America Tower(AMT) rose 112%, Crown Castle International(RIMM) was up 167% and SBA Communications(SBAC) was up 136%.

The chart says it all:

Research In Motion designs, manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the mobile communications market worldwide. It provides platforms and solutions for access to information, including email, voice, instant messaging, short message service, Internet and Intranet-based browsing, and multimedia content through developing integrated hardware, software, and services.

The company sells its BlackBerry wireless solutions through global wireless communications carriers and third party distribution channels. Research In Motion was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario. (Yahoo Finance profile)

Factors to Consider:

Technical indicators provided by Barchart:

Barchart has a 72% sell signal while Trend Spotter sees a bottom and has a technical hold. The stock trades below its 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages and has a 41.03% Relative Strength Index. To illustrate the stock's momentum, it has fallen 16.84% in the last month, fallen 38.18% in the last quarter, and is presently trading 95.23% off its five-year high of 148.13 which occurred in June of 2008. The stock trades at $7.06, which is below its 50-day moving average of $7.67.

Fundamental Factors:

Wall Street is fascinated by the stock and 36 brokerage firms have assigned 47 analysts to make recommendations to their customers. Analysts project revenue will be down 45.1% this year and another 2.4% next year.

Earnings are estimated to be down 136.2% this year and average an annual increase of only 7.5% over the next five years. In spite of these puny forecasts, analysts have issued four buy, 26 hold, 11 underperform and six sell recommendations to clients.