TLDR
- Qualcomm stock rose over 3% premarket Friday after Alphabet’s disclosure.
- Alphabet’s stake was worth $547.9 million as of September.
- QCOM opened at $156.75, below its 50-day average of $178.09.
- Revenue of $10.44 billion beat estimates, but handset sales were weak.
- A $0.92 dividend is payable Dec. 17.
Qualcomm (QCOM) stock was up more than 3% in premarket trading Friday. It opened at $156.75, and the lift came from a fresh look at who owns it.
Alphabet said its Qualcomm stake was worth $547.9 million as of September. The position covers nearly 3 million of the chipmaker’s stock.
The Google parent also lifted its SpaceX holding to about 555 million from 551.2 million. So Alphabet now owns both names.
At the current market cap of $167.38 billion, the Qualcomm stake works out to roughly 0.3% of the company. Small slice, big name.
The stock still trades below its 50-day average of $178.09. Its 200-day average sits at $169.47.
Qualcomm’s 52-week range runs from $121.99 to $259.92. Friday’s open sits in the lower half of that range.
The Earnings Backdrop
Qualcomm reported fiscal fourth-quarter results Wednesday. Revenue came in at $10.44 billion, above the $10.12 billion estimate.
Adjusted earnings were $2.17 per share, one cent above the $2.16 consensus. A year earlier, the company earned $3.00.
Revenue fell 8.4% from the same quarter last year. Weak handset demand, including less Apple-related revenue, weighed on the numbers.
Investors were irked by a miss on smartphone chip sales. Qualcomm did forecast better-than-expected revenue for its young data-center business.
SpaceX also picked Qualcomm’s Dragonwing platforms for Starlink Mobile’s planned U.S. 5G network. The deal runs for multiple years.
Analysts and Insiders
Rosenblatt cut its price target to $205 from $235 and kept a buy rating. Susquehanna lowered its target to $165 from $185 with a neutral rating.
UBS and JPMorgan moved to neutral. TD Cowen kept its buy rating.
MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of Hold with a $197.55 price target. The tally is three Strong Buy, twelve Buy, 21 Hold and three Sell ratings.
CEO Cristiano Amon sold $2 million of stock at an average of $200 on Sept. 25. The sale was made under a pre-arranged trading plan.
Insiders sold about $5.73 million of stock over the past 90 days. Boston Trust Walden also trimmed its stake by 15.3% in the third quarter, to a holding worth about $28.9 million.
Qualcomm declared a $0.92 quarterly dividend, payable Dec. 17 to holders of record on Dec. 3. That date is also the ex-dividend date, and the payout works out to a 2.3% annual yield.
