The prediction that Qualcomm Inc. made for the current quarter and the news that it was increasing its buyback program by $15 billion on Wednesday shocked Wall Street.
The chip company thinks it will make between $10.5 billion and $11.3 billion in the December quarter. The middle point of Qualcomm’s QCOM 4.27% outlook is a lot higher than the $10.6 billion that FactSet thought it would be.
Qualcomm also thinks that its adjusted earnings per share for the quarter will be between $2.85 and $3.05. Analysts were expecting $2.86.
Qualcomm stock went up 6.3% after the market closed on Wednesday.
Qualcomm also had a good fiscal fourth quarter. The company made $10.24 billion in sales, which was up 19% from the previous year and more than the $9.91 billion that FactSet predicted it would make.
In 2018, Qualcomm made a total of $8.68 billion from its QCT chip business and $1.52 billion from its QTL licensing business. It was expected that those two groups would bring in $8.41 billion and $1.45 billion, respectively.
Qualcomm made $2.92 billion in net income, or $2.59 per share. This is almost twice as much as the company made the previous year. Profits per share went up 33% to $2.69, while experts were expecting them to be $2.56.
During the last fiscal year, the company bought back $4.1 billion worth of stock, with $1.3 billion bought back in the fourth quarter. The company still has about $1 billion left on its prior authorisation, on top of the $15 billion that was added by the current boost.
“We are excited about our recent product announcements at Snapdragon Summit and Embedded World,” said CEO Cristiano Amon in a release. “They continue to extend our technology leadership and position us well across handsets, PC, automotive, and the industrial Internet of Things.”
A day for investors will be held by Qualcomm on November 19.
