Qualcomm earnings more than double, stock heads higher

Revenue rose to $8.06 billion from $4.89 billion in the year-ago quarter. Wall Street analysts, however, estimate revenue that excludes Qualcomm’s Strategic Initiatives investment segment. Without QSI, revenue rose to $8 billion, compared with $4.89 billion in the year-ago period.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of $1.68 a share on revenue of $7.53 billion, based on Qualcomm’s forecast of $1.55 to $1.75 a share on revenue of $7.1 billion to $7.9 billion.

Shares gained 3% in after-hours trading, following a 1.1% rise in the regular session to close at $142.44.

“In addition to leading the 5G transition, we are on pace to deliver $10 billion of annual revenues across RF front-end, IoT and automotive as our business continues to diversify,” Cristiano Amon said in his first earnings report since becoming Qualcomm’s chief executive. “Our solutions are fueling the connected intelligent edge that is enabling the cloud economy, and we are seeing unprecedented demand for our technologies as the pace of digital transformation accelerates.”

Qualcomm said its wireless and mobile business, which includes 5G chips and sales for handsets, rose 57% from a year ago to $3.86 billion, while sales of chips for mobile-device antennas, or RF front-end products, more than doubled to $957 million from the year-ago.

Qualcomm forecast adjusted third-quarter earnings of $2.15 to $2.35 a share on revenue of $8.4 billion to $9.2 billion, while analysts were estimating $2.03 a share on revenue of $8.46 billion.

Over the past 12 months, Qualcomm shares are up 56%, compared with a 59% gain for the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, +1.76%,   a 37% rise by the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.02%,  and a 42% gain by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.70%.