It seems that times are tough for RIM right now and one analyst is warning that RIM may well need to flag that its current situation is not great by warning ahead of its next quarterly earning report. Although things were looking slightly more hopeful previously, shares are now down 5.9% in 2012 and there look to be worrying times ahead.

After Jefferies analyst Peter Misek issued an update where he repeated an “underperform” recommendation, shares fell over 4% in trading yesterday. Misek trimmed targets on stock from $15 to $12 and put the chances of RIM warning ahead before its fourth quarter earnings report (on March 29) at 50%.

It seems that much of the blame for RIM’s current performance can be laid squarely at the door of the Apple iPhone and some Android smartphones, especially those from Samsung. These are hugely successful at the expense of RIM’s higher-end BlackBerry phones, which have underperformed sales-wise. Low-end BlackBerry’s have also seen sales diminish in Europe, North America and Latin America.

The Globe and Mail’s Ian Marlow explained that Misek had lowered his estimates below expectations because of information that RIM won’t realize previous guidance. Misek anticipates that RIM will sell around 10.5 million units with $4.2 billion revenue, whilst RIMS’s guidance indicted sales of around 12 million units with between $4.6 and $4.9 billion revenue.

After changes in management at the top level and new board directors, things had been looking more promising for RIM as the company was showing positivity in its way forward and an open attitude to change. New investors were also attracted such as Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd and Greenlight Capital. However these latest figures show that all of that positivity doesn’t appear to be enough at the present time. Another article tells how other analysts are also predicting gloomy times ahead such as Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu and Ehud Gelblum, an analyst for Morgan Stanley, so check that out for more. You may also be interested in our recent look at the very different story for Apple stock.

It certainly seems then as though RIM has good reason to be anxious about its performance as sales of BlackBerry’s decline. Do you think that RIM will manage to turn things around, especially as far as BlackBerry sales are concerned? Maybe you think it’s already too late and that RIM should have made changes much sooner? Let us know with your comments.