Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Stock Price Down 1.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Qualcomm shares fell 1.6% on Wednesday, trading as low as $181.60 as volume jumped to about 22.7 million shares, above the stock’s average daily volume.
• Recent news flow was mixed but included some positives: Erste Group Bank lifted its FY2027 EPS estimate, and coverage highlighted Qualcomm’s push into AI compute and data center chips as a potential growth driver.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious overall, with Qualcomm carrying an average Hold rating and a consensus price target of $220.45, even as several firms recently upgraded the stock.

Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) fell 1.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $181.60 and last traded at $181.92. Approximately 22,657,921 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 33% from the average daily volume of 17,088,441 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.79.

Trending Headlines about Qualcomm

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualcomm this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Erste Group Bank raised their FY2027 EPS estimate for Qualcomm, signaling slightly better earnings expectations and supporting the stock’s longer-term outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Qualcomm’s push into AI compute and data center chips suggests a potential new growth path, with the company reportedly targeting $15 billion in data center revenue by fiscal 2029 and seeing deployments from Meta and Microsoft.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that ByteDance is partnering with Qualcomm on a future in-house CPU reinforce Qualcomm’s role in next-generation AI infrastructure and could add to investor confidence in its chip pipeline.
• Neutral Sentiment: Qualcomm remains a widely watched stock, but the “trending” coverage is informational rather than a direct catalyst for earnings or guidance.
• Neutral Sentiment: Bernstein reportedly reiterated a Hold rating, which suggests analysts see limited near-term upside but not a major deterioration in fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: Tech stocks are facing pressure from rising interest rates and uncertainty ahead of jobs data, which is weighing on Qualcomm along with the broader semiconductor group.
• Negative Sentiment: A recent market update noted Qualcomm fell while the overall market gained, reflecting continued investor caution after the stock’s recent pullback.
• Negative Sentiment: Speculation that Qualcomm may not acquire Tenstorrent removes a possible AI-related upside story that some investors had been watching.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QCOM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of Qualcomm from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Qualcomm in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Qualcomm to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Lake Street Capital cut shares of Qualcomm to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Qualcomm from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualcomm has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $220.45.

Qualcomm Stock Down 1.6%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $203.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.90. The stock has a market cap of $191.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.59 billion. Qualcomm had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 42.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.85 earnings per share. Qualcomm has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.100-2.300 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Qualcomm announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, March 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the wireless technology company to reacquire up to 14.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Qualcomm

In other Qualcomm news, CEO Cristiano R. Amon sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 197,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,562,240. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 21,806 shares of company stock worth $3,928,958 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QCOM. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Qualcomm by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 168 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Qualcomm during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Qualcomm by 17,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 171 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Qualcomm during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. 74.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Qualcomm Company Profile

Qualcomm Incorporated is a global semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in San Diego, California. Founded in 1985, the company is known for its development of wireless technologies and for playing a central role in the evolution of digital cellular standards, including CDMA and subsequent generations of mobile standards. Qualcomm’s business combines the design and sale of semiconductor products with a patent licensing program for wireless technologies and related intellectual property.

The company’s product portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) platforms marketed under the Snapdragon brand, cellular modem and RF front-end components, connectivity solutions for Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth, and processors and platforms aimed at automotive, IoT, networking and edge-computing applications.

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