Wireless-chip leader Qualcomm late Wednesday pummeled Wall Street's targets for its fiscal second quarter and guided higher for the current period. QCOM stock rose in extended trading.
The San Diego-based company earned an adjusted $3.21 a share on sales of $11.16 billion in the quarter ended March 27. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Qualcomm earnings of $2.95 a share on sales of $10.63 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Qualcomm earnings surged 69% while sales popped 41%.
Chief Executive Cristiano Amon credited the company's strong performance to its diversification strategy and strong demand for its wireless and high-performance, low-power processors.
"We are well positioned to meet our long-term targets and enable the connected intelligent edge," he said in a news release.
QCOM Stock Rises
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, QCOM stock advanced 4.3% to 140.91. During the regular session Wednesday, QCOM stock climbed 1.2% to close at 135.10.
Wireless chips for smartphones were the biggest driver of Qualcomm's March-quarter growth. Revenue from handset chips jumped 56% to $6.33 billion in the period. Sales of chips for Internet of Things devices increased 61% to $1.72 billion. Revenue from chips for radio-frequency front-end applications rose 28% to $1.16 billion. And sales of automotive chips climbed 41% to $339 million.
Total chip sales rose 52% to $9.55 billion. Meanwhile, revenue from technology licensing dipped 2% to $1.58 billion in the fiscal second quarter.
For the current quarter, Qualcomm forecast adjusted earnings of $2.85 a share on sales of $10.9 billion. That's based on the midpoint of its outlook. Wall Street had predicted Qualcomm earnings of $2.64 a share on sales of $10.03 billion in the fiscal third quarter.
QCOM stock ranks tenth out of 30 stocks in IBD's fabless semiconductor industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. It has a so-so IBD Composite Rating of 72 out of 99. The Composite Rating scores a stock's key growth metrics against all other stocks regardless of industry group.
Follow Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
