Will BlackBerry Remain Dominant Smartphone?

Will BlackBerry remain the dominant smartphone; or are rivals such as the Pre eating away at RIM's market share?

Both Research in Motion and Palm report earnings on Thursday and what they say could reshape the smartphone landscape – but should it reshape your portfolio?

Research In Motion

Investors will likely scour RIM results looking to see how badly rivals have eaten away at its market share. Competition is ramping up with Motorola getting positive reviews for its Droid phone and Apple pulling out all the stops on iPhone.

However, RIM may be in the sweet spot, at least as an investment, according to some analysts.

The company's stock has been in the dog house since last quarter, when they firm’s sales fell short of forecasts, says Duncan Stewart, an analyst at DSAM Consulting. Everybody has gotten so down on RIM, the stock may be oversold.

Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt shares that bullish sentiment.

I also think RIM is a buy, he adds on Fast Money. I have an outperform rating on this stock on the belief that BlackBarry remains the smartphone of choice for most people. Also the company initiated a buy back about a month ago which in this company has been a signal they have decent visibility into the next few quarters.

What do the Fast Money traders think?

I think RIM goes higher post earnings, speculates Joe Terranova.

I do too, adds Pete Najarian. I like this stock at current levels.

But investors may be disappointed by margins, counters Tim Seymour. I’m not nearly as bullish.

Palm

Meanwhile, with shares down about 20% over the last 3 months investors are trying to get a handle on some bullish analyst calls out recently on Palm.

Just this week, MKM Partners upgraded Palm to a Buy saying “many of the risks we saw to the stock have subsided."

Also this week Vivek Arya at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch maintained a buy rating and called Palm "a high-risk but potentially highly rewarding smartphone stock."

Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt isn’t quite so bullish. Although he rates the stock at market perform he says, at these levels, stay away.