Qualcomm Earnings Soar in Q4

Qualcomm reported today that it earned a net income of $2.5 billion on revenues of $8.2 billion for the quarter ending December 31, 2020. Despite significantly topping its results from the year-ago quarter, financial analysts had expected even bigger gains, and Qualcomm shares dropped 8 percent in after-hours trading as a result.

“We delivered an exceptional quarter, more than doubling earnings year-over-year due to strong 5G demand in handsets and growth in our RF front-end, automotive and IoT adjacencies, which drove record earnings in our chip business,” Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said. “We remain well-positioned as the 5G ramp continues and we extend our core technology roadmap to adjacent industries.”

Qualcomm’s revenues were up 62 percent from the same quarter one year ago, while net income leaped by 165 percent.

Qualcomm splits its business into two segments, the biggest of which is QCT (Qualcomm CDA Technologies). That business contains four main units—handsets, RF front-end, automotive, and IoT—and it’s perhaps not surprising that handsets is the biggest of those. That unit delivered $4.2 billion in revenues in the quarter, up 79 percent from the $2.4 billion it earned in the same quarter one year ago.

Qualcomm’s licensing segment, called Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL), delivered $1.66 billion in revenues in the quarter, up 18 percent YOY.

Qualcomm expects revenues between $7.2 billion and $8 billion in the current quarter. And then Christiano Amon will succeed Mr. Mollenkopf as Qualcomm CEO on June 30.