Qualcomm handset sales fall 26% as profit outlook disappoints
A steep smartphone-chip decline overshadowed growth in automotive sales and Qualcomm's data-center plans.
Qualcomm's handset-chip revenue fell 26% from a year earlier to $5.14 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter, overshadowing growth in automotive sales and an earnings beat. Shares were down about 9% in early premarket trading Thursday, according to Reuters' early-morning report.
The company reported non-GAAP revenue of $10.44 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.17 a share. Those adjusted figures should not be confused with its GAAP results: diluted earnings were $1.17 a share.
For its fiscal first quarter of 2027, Qualcomm forecast non-GAAP revenue of $10.4 billion to $11.2 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.15 to $2.35 a share. The profit outlook fell short of Wall Street expectations, even as the company said its China Android business had returned to sequential growth.
Automotive revenue rose 89% to $1.99 billion. Qualcomm is also expanding in data centers, but those plans have yet to offset the pressure on its much larger smartphone business.
Management said semiconductor input costs are rising across manufacturing, packaging, memory and other materials. It expects the full benefit of its price increases to reach chip-business gross margins in the second half of fiscal 2027. Its next-quarter chip-segment margin forecast also includes a three-percentage-point effect from adding the data-center business to that segment, rather than a change to total-company guidance.
