This week, Qualcomm, one of the main suppliers of mobile processors, reported its results for the past quarter. Its revenue for the period was higher than market expectations, and it also pleased investors with a more optimistic revenue forecast for the current period than analysts had expected.
Image source: Qualcomm
More specifically, Qualcomm’s revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter, which closed the corresponding 12-month period, grew by 19% year-on-year to $10.2 billion, against the $9.9 billion forecast. The company’s net profit grew by 96% to $2.92 billion according to the GAAP method; according to Non-GAAP, the increase was limited to 33%, but the amount of net profit reached $3.04 billion. In general, at the end of the last fiscal year, Qualcomm increased revenue by 9% to $39 billion and increased net profit by 40 % up to $10.1 billion.
The company traditionally divides revenue into two main segments: QCT is responsible for chip supplies, and QTL demonstrates financial performance in the field of licensing its own technologies. In the first case, the last quarter showed revenue growth by 18% to $8.7 billion, in the second case the increase reached 21%, but the total amount did not exceed $1.52 billion. At the end of the year, processor deliveries provided Qualcomm with more noticeable revenue growth (9%) than technology licensing (5%). If we highlight revenue from the sale of chips for smartphones at the end of the quarter, it grew by 12% to $6.1 billion. In the segment of devices running Android, the increase exceeded 20%. In the Chinese market, based on the results of the entire fiscal year, revenue from the sale of chips for devices running Android increased by 40%.
If we consider the market segments within QCT, a significant part of the core revenue (70%) continues to be provided by the mobile segment, which at the end of the last quarter showed an increase of 12% to $6.1 billion. The automotive segment became the leader in growth rates (68%), but in absolute terms, revenue in this area was limited to $899 million. The Internet of Things added 22% to revenue to $1.68 billion, but at the end of the year it showed a decrease of 9% to $5.4 billion. At the same time, Qualcomm’s annual revenue in the automotive segment grew by 55% to $2.91 billion, and in mobile it increased by 10% to $24.9 billion.
In the upcoming fiscal quarter, the company expects to generate a total of $10.5 billion to $11.3 billion in revenue, with the QCT segment providing $9 billion to $9.6 billion and the QTL segment generating $1.45 billion to $1.65 billion. In the automotive segment, the company’s revenue may grow by one and a half times, as management expects. The midpoint of the range of projected total revenue was higher than the $10.59 billion that investors were counting on. This also made them happy, as a result, the Qualcomm stock price after the close of trading at its peak grew by 10%, but by the time the material was published, the increase was limited to 6.31%. The company also announced that it will spend an additional $15 billion on share repurchases. Last quarter, it spent $1.3 billion on such purposes and paid out another $947 million in dividends.