Qualcomm Slides 9% on Soft Current-Quarter Guidance — SkimNews
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Qualcomm shares slid 9% Thursday, leading chip stocks lower after the company issued a light current-quarter forecast.
- Qualcomm slightly beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates after reporting its Q4 results Wednesday evening.
- Qualcomm projected first-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.15–$2.35 per share, below the $2.27 analyst estimate, and revenue of $10.4 billion–$11.2 billion versus a $10.48 billion Wall Street estimate.
- Qualcomm handset-chip sales fell 26% to $5.14 billion, short of StreetAccount’s $5.21 billion estimate, despite price increases in September.
- Qualcomm said rising memory costs forced smartphone price hikes and hurt device demand, while handset chips represented its largest sales segment.
- Cristiano Amon said, "We don't have a demand issue; it's a supply issue," adding that more chip supply would probably have improved Qualcomm’s results.
- AMD declined alongside Micron, Arm and Intel as the post-election semiconductor selloff continued on fears of a data-center slowdown and Democrats’ indicated plans for AI regulation.
Why it matters: Wall Street expected $2.27 in first-quarter adjusted earnings, but Qualcomm’s $2.15–$2.35 outlook and a 26% drop in handset-chip sales exposed the strain from scarce memory supply. Smartphone buyers already faced price hikes, while CEO Cristiano Amon said more chip supply—not stronger demand—would have improved the quarter.
Ask SkimNews
