Qualcomm Beats Q4 Earnings Estimates on Solid Revenue Growth

Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM reported strong fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results, with adjusted earnings and revenues exceeding the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven by healthy demand trends in IoT and automotive businesses. Revenues increased year over year, led by the strength of the business model, diversification initiatives and the ability to respond proactively to the evolving market scenario.

Net Income

On a GAAP basis, net loss in the September quarter was $3.12 billion or a loss of $2.89 per share against a net income of $2.92 billion or $2.59 per share in the prior-year quarter. Despite a healthy revenue growth, the bottom line declined due to a non-cash charge of $5.7 billion due to the requisite changes in the new tax legislation regime. 

Non-GAAP net income for the reported quarter came in at $3.26 billion or $3.00 per share compared with $3.04 billion or $2.69 per share in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12 cents.

For fiscal 2025, GAAP net income decreased to $5.54 billion or $5.01 per share from $10.14 billion or $8.97 per share in fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP earnings for fiscal 2025 were $13.3 billion or $12.03 per share compared with $11.54 billion or $10.22 per share in fiscal 2024.

Revenues

Total revenues in the fiscal fourth quarter were $11.27 billion, up from $10.24 billion in the year-ago quarter. The top line surpassed the consensus mark of $10.77 billion. Qualcomm registered record automotive revenues owing to solid momentum in the Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform. Strength within the handset and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) businesses also buoyed the top line. For fiscal 2025, non-GAAP revenues increased 13% year over year to $44.14 billion with solid IoT and automotive revenues.

Segment Results

Quarterly revenues from Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) were $9.82 billion, up from $8.68 billion a year ago, as strength in the automotive platform, higher demand in handsets and Snapdragon chipset within the IoT business aided the top-line growth. The company witnessed solid market traction in the EDGE networking business that helps transform connectivity in cars, business enterprises, homes, smart factories, next-generation PCs, wearables and tablets. 

Automotive revenues rose 17% to a record high of $1.05 billion, driven by increased content in new vehicle launches with its Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, with automakers deploying high-performance, low-power computing and connectivity chips to bring next-generation experience to consumers. Handset revenues jumped 14% to $6.96 billion, led by healthy traction in premium Android handsets enabled by the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 platform. IoT revenues were up 7% to $1.81 billion on solid demand for the Snapdragon AR1 chipset for the emerging AI smart glasses category. EBT margin for the QCT segment rose to 29% from 28%.

Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) revenues totaled $1.41 billion, down 7% year over year, with EBT margin declining to 72% from 74%.

Cash Flow & Liquidity

Qualcomm generated $14.01 billion of net cash from operating activities in fiscal 2025 compared with $12.2 billion a year ago. As of Sept. 28, 2025, the company had $5.52 billion in cash and cash equivalents with $14.81 billion of long-term debt compared with respective tallies of $7.85 billion and $13.27 billion in the prior-year period. The company repurchased 16 million shares during the quarter for $2.44 billion.

Guidance

For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Qualcomm expects GAAP revenues of $11.8-$12.6 billion due to solid demand and portfolio strength. Non-GAAP earnings are projected to be $3.30-$3.50 per share, while GAAP earnings are likely to be $2.55-$2.75 per share. Revenues from QTL are expected to be between $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion. For QCT, the company anticipates revenues between $10.3 billion and $10.9 billion, with record handset revenues, relatively flat automotive revenues and a slight decline in IoT revenues sequentially.

Zacks Rank

Qualcomm currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Upcoming Releases

Keysight Technologies, Inc. KEYS is scheduled to release fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings on Nov. 24. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.83 per share, suggesting a growth of 10.9% from the year-ago reported figure.

Keysight has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 11.5%. Keysight delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.7% in the last four reported quarters.

Viasat, Inc. VSAT is slated to release second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on Nov. 7. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at a loss of 11 cents per share, indicating a 89.7% growth from the year-ago reported figure.

Viasat delivered an average earnings surprise of 7.1% in the last four reported quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.15 billion, implying a growth of 2.4% from the year-ago reported figure.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ASTS is set to release third-quarter 2025 earnings on Nov. 10. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at a loss of 18 cents per share, implying a growth of 25% from the year-ago reported figure.

AST SpaceMobile has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 28.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $20.74 million, implying a growth of 1,785.4% from the year-ago reported figure.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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