Post earnings the stock was up 9% to $188, yesterday, but has given up most of its gains, today. I’m continuing to accumulate.
I’ve owned Qualcomm for a while now, and recommended it in July 2024, and earlier in September 2023, when I wrote a lengthy article on the auto-tech industry. I believe in its long-term strengths and plan to keep the investment for the next three to five years.
Key Strengths include:
- The Crown Jewel – Its licensing business with its treasure trove of patents generating 70% margins.
- Strong growth from autos – one of the market leaders with Nvidia and Mobile Eye.
- Its partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) for AI PCs
Sep Q-2024 Results
QCT sales rose 18% year-over-year to $8.678B.
Within QCT, Auto was the best performer – sales jumped 68% to $899M. This was the biggest surprise as Qualcomm’s auto sales growth cadence is in the mid-thirties. Auto sales tend to be lumpy so this was a really big positive.
Revenue from handsets rose 12% year-over-year to $6.096B. Handsets tend to struggle sometimes – based on Apple’s fortunes and after drops in the previous year, this was a welcome return to growth.
Its IoT segment has been a slow grower – usually mid-single digits, but it grew 22% this quarter to $1.683Bn.
Licensing revenue rose 21% year-over-year to $1.521B. Licensing is its most lucrative segment with gross margins over 70% – pretty much its crown jewel.
Q1FY2025 Guidance:
Revenue of $10.5B-$11.3B vs $10.61B consensus. At the midpoint, that’s an increase of 3% Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.85-$3.05 vs $2.87 consensus, which at the midpoint is also an increase of 3%. from handsets rose 12% year-over-year to $6.096B.
The CEO, Cristiano Anon, had this to say about the quarter
“We are pleased to conclude the fiscal year with strong results in the fourth quarter, delivering greater than 30% year-over-year growth in EPS,” “We are excited about our recent product announcements at Snapdragon Summit and Embedded World, as they continue to extend our technology leadership and position us well across Handsets, PC, Automotive and Industrial IoT. We look forward to providing an update on our growth and diversification initiatives at our Investor Day on November 19.”
Analysts from UBS and J.P. Morgan upped their price targets, while Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley (who kept his Overweight rating and $200 price target) pointed out that there is now a “bifurcation in Android between the high and low end” and Qualcomm is benefiting both in units and average selling price.
At $180, Qualcomm is very reasonably priced at 16x next year’s estimated earnings and 4x next year’s forecasted sales.
Given its market leadership in auto-tech, AI PCs, and sustainable, and recurring high-margin licensing business, Qualcomm should be priced between 20-22x earnings. It spends a good 25% of its revenues on R&D, which will enable it to continue innovating and growing. Even after that, it still returned $1.6Bn to shareholders with $0.7Bn in share buybacks and $0.9Bn in dividends.