Qualcomm’s Fourth-Quarter Revenue Beats Estimates, Growth Expected in 2027

What happened

Qualcomm reported its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results on Nov. 4 local time: non-GAAP revenue was $10.442 billion, operating profit was $2.769 billion, and EPS were $2.17, declining 7%, 27% and 28%, respectively, from a year earlier. Revenue matched the upper end of guidance and exceeded Wall Street's estimate of $10.14 billion, and EPS reached the top end of guidance and was in line with market expectations. The decline was largely driven by weakness in the handset chipset business: fourth-quarter handset revenue fell 26% from a year earlier to $5.137 billion, and the source states that major smartphone manufacturers have been scaling back production plans amid memory supply constraints and rising component prices. Automotive revenue surged 89% from a year earlier to $1.99 billion, approaching $2 billion for the first time, on increased shipments of new vehicles equipped with the Snapdragon Digital Cockpit infotainment platform and Snapdragon Ride ADAS platform along with improved ASPs; IoT revenue (including PCs, XR and robotics) rose 4% year on year to $1.888 billion; and QTL patent licensing revenue declined 7% year on year to $1.304 billion, with long-term 5G patent licensing renewals completed with major smartphone manufacturers including Apple, Huawei and Transsion. Qualcomm expects its data center business to begin contributing to earnings next quarter, with results from its large-scale AI data center collaboration with Amazon expected to become visible this quarter, data center revenue projected to exceed $650 million in the December quarter as the fourth revenue-reporting business within the QCT segment, quarterly product shipments expected to increase, an annualized revenue run rate of as much as $7 billion by the end of fiscal 2027, and its full-year data center revenue target of $5 billion expected in fiscal 2027. The company forecast revenue of $10.4 billion to $11.2 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 (October through December) with non-GAAP EPS of $2.15 to $2.35, and said full-year non-mobile revenue would surge more than 60% from a year earlier. Despite the stronger-than-expected results, Qualcomm shares fell more than 8% in after-hours trading as of 7:20 a.m. following the earnings announcement; the source states the decline came as the midpoint of the next-quarter EPS guidance, at $2.25, fell short of the market consensus of $2.27.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: The Elec · 11/4/2026 · View original source