Qualcomm Shares Surge On FQ4 Print: 5 Analysts Find The Spark In Results

Qualcomm Inc QCOM shares were climbing in early trading on Thursday, after the company reported upbeat quarterly earnings.

The results came amid an exciting earnings season. Here are some key analyst takeaways from the earnings release.

Bernstein On Qualcomm

Analyst Stacy Rasgon maintained an Outperform rating while raising the price target from $135 to $145.

Qualcomm reported “good” results for its fiscal fourth quarter, beating the consensus estimates on both revenues and earnings, “driven by QCT with notable strength in automotive and QoQ handset growth as the company (finally!) sees signs of stabilization in Android demand,” Rasgon said in a note.

“Handsets grew 4% QoQ and Auto grew 23% (both above consensus) and IoT fell ~7% QoQ (below consensus); licensing revenues were in-line with consensus estimates,” he added.

KeyBanc Capital Markets On Qualcomm

Analyst John Vinh reiterated an Overweight rating and price target of $145.

Qualcomm reported “strong” results for the September quarter and its guidance exceeded expectations, Vinh said.

“Upside in the quarter was attributed to a recovery in the Android smartphone market, while strength is expected to sustain into F1Q, as QCT handsets are expected to grow +35% q/q for China OEMs specifically,” the analyst wrote. “Additionally, QCOM did acknowledge it will lose modest share in the Samsung GS24, which is consistent with our view that Exynos will account for 20%-30%,” he added.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

Mizuho Securities On Qualcomm

Analyst Vijay Rakesh reaffirmed a Buy rating and price target of $140.

The company noted handset channel inventory was back to “more normalized levels,” Rakesh wrote in a note. “QCOM's own SepQ inventory was down 3% q/q and down 9 days q/q to 153 days,” he added.

Qualcomm could achieve strong sequential growth in the March quarter, as the company “expects to have the majority share of launches in Samsung's GS24 after iPhone ramp in DecQ,” the analyst said.

Piper Sandler On Qualcomm

Analyst Harsh Kumar maintained an Overweight rating and price target of $140.

“At a broad level, handset inventory appears to have been bled out in the Android space and channel rebuilding paired with the Chinese New Year build are providing tailwinds,” Kumar wrote.

“QCOM is emphasizing AI in Snapdragon chipsets, which would result in meaningful ASP increases, content, and potentially share gains,” the analyst stated.

The company is also on track to producing ARM-based chipsets for PCs “with an emphasis on low power and high performance,” which “opens up new TAM for QCOM by mid-2024,” he added.

Oppenheimer On Qualcomm

Analyst Rick Schafer reiterated a Perform rating on the stock.

“Handset led as channel builds China Android inventory ahead of holiday season,” Schafer wrote in a note. “IoT declined on soft demand and elevated inventory,” he added.

Management expected IoT to bottom in the fiscal first quarter, before normalizing in the back half of the year, the analyst further stated.

QCOM Price Action: Shares of Qualcomm are up 5.43% to $116.93 at the time of publication Thursday.

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