Chip stocks Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) are moving in opposite directions this morning. The former is brushing off a fiscal first-quarter earnings beat after it also issued a disappointing outlook, and the latter is paring earlier losses despite missing licensing sales estimates, after it also announced a fiscal third-quarter earnings and revenue beat. Surging memory-chip prices weighed on both.
QCOM is down 9.4% to trade at $134.77, after Susquehanna and BofA Global Research both downgraded the stock to "neutral." The equity also saw no fewer than 10 price-target cuts, and is now on track for its worst day since April. Shares also broke below support at the $150 region, and carry a 21.9% year-over-year deficit.
ARM was last seen up 1.1% to trade at $106.07, brushing off at least 11 price-target cuts, including one from HSBC to $90 from $105. The stock bounced off the $100 level earlier, after gapping to its lowest level since April. Over the last 12 months, ARM has shed over 38%.
Overall options volume is running at four times the intraday average volume for QCOM, and triple the amount that's typically seen at this point for ARM. The most active contract for the former is the February 160 call, and for the latter it's the weekly 2/6 110-strike call leading the way.
