Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
Qualcomm shares rose more than 13% Thursday before leveling out to 11% mid-morning, a day after the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations. Earnings showed Qualcomm has weathered the global chip shortage well.
Analysts expected adjusted earnings per share of $2.26 and revenue of $8.86 billion. Qualcomm reported $2.55 earnings per share, adjusted, and revenue of $9.3 billion. Its chip business generated $7.7 billion in revenue, up 56% year over year, on demand for new phones.
“Supply worked exactly as we planned,” CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Thursday. “Scale helps, we addressed the issue early … we put capacity plans in place and it’s working exactly as we planned.”
Amon said the company is prioritizing supply where it gets the most return, adding that the “handset business is on fire” because of demand for devices that run on new and faster 5G networks.
“The reality is if we look at where we are today, we had a great Q4 quarter but we’re still short,” Amon told CNBC. “We’re going to see supply substantially improving at the end of the calendar year as well as when we get into 2022 but there’s more demand than supply.”
“As we look into Q1 we could grow more, especially in new revenue streams and growth areas outside handsets,” he explained. Amon pointed to virtual reality and augmented reality devices as potential growth drivers outside of phones, noting that Qualcomm powers the Oculus headset sold by Facebook, which recently changed its name to Meta.
Analysts at Piper Sandler said Wednesday that Qualcomm is its top large-cap stock pick given its strength within the Android market. Piper Sandler raised its price target from $175 to $190.
“We feel the company is extremely well positioned both near and long term, and we see the Android handset strength helping to offset any risk from Apple moving away,” Piper Sandler analysts wrote.
Qualcomm also benefits from 5G growth and automotive momentum, the analysts said.
– CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
