Research In Motion (RIMM) reports tonight

RIMM announced yesterday that the Verizon Curve and Sprint Curve will ship in May. The 9000 series may have to wait for the following quarter, but that lends more visibility to the story. Admittedly, the iPhone 3G is going to put some competitive concern out there. Historically competitive factors have made RIMM push very hard at the enterprise level to win all the business they can quickly and make it more difficult for competitors when they get to market.

I worry that the economy can bite them in the ass as they've got a lot of exposure to the financial vertical... but that hasn't been apparent in the survey data or the reported numbers so far. As long as the new product rollouts continue on plan, I don't see signs of a major stumble.

I expect RIMM to beat numbers and guide higher tonight. I think the stock is cheap relative to its growth rate and the company deserves a premium multiple relative to the rest of the market -- they're growing at nearly 100% and still enjoy market leadership in the smartphone market, the fastest growing and smallest segment of the cell phone business and yet the stock trades at 35* next year's estimate. My guess is its hard to get the stock above 40* next year's estimate in an uncertain environment like this one. On the current numbers, before the raise I expect, that would get you to $140. If I'm right about the guidance, the stock has room to move higher than that.