Shares of Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) were trading just over $176 on the morning of Dec. 18, extending a run that has been easy to overlook in a market obsessed with mega-cap tech and artificial intelligence leaders. The stock is up about 12% year-to-date and more than 40% since April, marking one of Qualcomm’s strongest years in recent memory after a long stretch of underperformance versus peers.
What has investors paying closer attention to now as we head into the final few sessions of the year is not just the price action, but the valuation that has come with it. Qualcomm’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has climbed to levels not seen in more than a decade. Sometimes that kind of move is a warning sign that expectations are getting ahead of reality.
