Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on news you need to know.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 29 — Qualcomm Inc yesterday forecast current-quarter sales and adjusted profits above Wall Street estimates, with executives saying they see supply constraints easing as smartphone buyers upgrade to 5G and former Huawei Technologies Co Ltd customers migrate to Qualcomm-chip phones.
Qualcomm shares rose 5.4 per cent to US$144 (RM590.76) in extended trading.
Qualcomm is the world’s biggest supplier of smartphone chips, providing key components for 5G connectivity. The San Diego, California-based company has resolved protracted legal fights with regulators and regained iPhone maker Apple Inc as a customer.
That has helped its shares rise 83 per cent over the past year, beating the Nasdaq Composite Index’s 64 per cent gain, as investors bet Qualcomm will be a big winner in the global shift toward 5G telecommunications networks.
“Qualcomm is clearly benefiting from its 5G design win with Apple’s iPhone12 and other Asian smartphones’ OEMs,” said Kinngai Chan, analyst at Summit Insights Group. Honour, Huawei’s spin-off brand, has also contributed to this, he added.
Qualcomm forecast adjusted profits with a midpoint of US$1.65 per share on revenue with a midpoint of US$7.5 billion for its fiscal third quarter ending in June, compared with analysts’ expectations of US$1.52 per share on US$7.11 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
For the fiscal second quarter ended March 28, Qualcomm had adjusted earnings of US$1.90 per share on sales of US$7.93 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of US$1.67 per share on US$7.62 billion, Refinitiv data showed. Wall Street estimates had been only slightly above the midpoints of Qualcomm’s own guidance of US$1.65 per share on US$7.6 billion.
Qualcomm designs chips but relies on partners to manufacture them, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd , Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp
Qualcomm executives said the company is investing with its manufacturing partners to secure capacity, “one of the key drivers of growth of expenses between the second and third fiscal quarter,” Qualcomm Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala told Reuters.
“Supply remains tight within the chip industry but key chipmakers like Qualcomm (and Apple) have been able to navigate well as they are preferred customers” of chip contract manufacturers, noted Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.
Qualcomm has been aiming to gain smartphone chip market share after US sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd last year all but cut off the Chinese company’s chip supplies, rendering it unable to keep making smartphones. Qualcomm executives have said they expect much of Huawei’s previous market share to migrate to other Android phone makers which use Qualcomm’s chips.
Analysts believe the US ban on Huawei has benefited Qualcomm’s customers including iPhone maker Apple and other Asian phone makers.
Qualcomm sees the vacuum left by Huawei as “a tremendous opportunity in gaining market share, not just for the short term into fiscal 2022, but also for the longer term and beyond that,” added Palkhiwala.
On a call with analysts, Qualcomm said sales of its mobile phone chips could grow by US$10 billion as Huawei exits the market.
Those gains hinge on Qualcomm’s ability to secure enough chips during a global supply crunch. Cristiano Amon, who will take over as chief executive in the coming months, told Reuters that Qualcomm can source its most profitable chips, the flagship Snapdragon 800 series of smartphone processors, from both Samsung and TSMC.
“We expect supply chain to improve significantly as we get to the end of the calendar year,” Amon said in an interview.
Qualcomm has aimed to grow its chip business and improve margins as its once-lucrative patent licensing business shrinks after some changes to its licensing practices.
For the fiscal third quarter, Qualcomm forecast chip and licensing revenue with a midpoint of US$6.05 billion and US$1.45 billion, respectively, compared to analysts’ estimates of US$5.64 billion and US$1.36 billion, according to FactSet data.
For the fiscal second quarter, chip and licensing sales were US$6.28 billion and US$1.61 billion respectively, versus FactSet expectations of US$6.26 billion and US$1.35 billion.
Qualcomm said handset chips sales were US$4.07 billion, up 53 per cent from a year ago, compared with a 79 per cent gain in the previous fiscal first quarter. Sales of radio frequency chips, which Qualcomm has said will power revenue growth, were up 39 per cent at US$903 million, compared to a 157 per cent year-on-year increase. — Reuters
Source: Malay Mail
No comments:
Post a Comment