Qualcomm (QCOM) Stock on 6 December 2025: AI, Automotive and Dividend Power

Published: December 6, 2025 – Information only, not investment advice.

Qualcomm Stock Snapshot as of December 6, 2025

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) closed around $174.81 per share, with intraday trading between roughly $173.88 and $177.26.

Over the last 12 months, the stock has traded in a 52‑week range of about $120.80 to $205.95, putting today’s price roughly 15% below its recent high after a sharp October rally and a volatile November. ^[1]

Based on recent data, Qualcomm carries a market capitalization of about $186–188 billion and a trailing P/E around the mid‑30s, while its forward P/E is closer to the mid‑teens, reflecting expectations for faster earnings growth ahead. ^[2]

The company also remains a dividend payer. Qualcomm’s most recent quarterly dividend is $0.89 per share, implying a yield of roughly 2.0–2.1% at current prices, and it returned about $3.4 billion to shareholders in Q4 alone through buybacks and dividends (around $12.6 billion for fiscal 2025). ^[3]

In short, Qualcomm now sits in a middle ground: off the highs reached after its AI‑related rallies, but still well above early‑2025 levels after a multi‑month uptrend.

Earnings: Record Q4 FY 2025 and a Strong Outlook

Qualcomm’s latest numbers are a big part of the current QCOM story.

Q4 FY 2025 at a glance

For the fiscal quarter ended September 28, 2025, Qualcomm reported: ^[4]

Revenue: ~$11.27–11.30 billion, up ~10% year over year, and above Wall Street estimates (around $10.8 billion).
Non‑GAAP EPS:$3.00, up about 12% YoY, also ahead of consensus.
Segment mix (QCT vs. QTL):
- QCT (chip business): $9.82–9.8 billion, +13% YoY.
- QTL (licensing): $1.41 billion, ‑7% YoY.
QCT revenue by end market:
- Handsets: ~$6.96–7.0 billion (+14% YoY) on premium Android strength and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
- Automotive: ~$1.05–1.1 billion (+17% YoY), the first quarter above $1 billion in auto revenue.
- IoT: ~$1.81–1.8 billion (+7% YoY) driven by industrial, networking and XR/AI smart‑glasses demand.

On a non‑GAAP basis, Qualcomm delivered an adjusted operating margin around the mid‑30% range, with non‑GAAP net income of about $3.3 billion. ^[5]

On a GAAP basis, however, Q4 showed a loss due to a non‑cash ~$5.7 billion tax charge from new U.S. tax legislation, pushing GAAP EPS to about ‑$2.89 despite strong underlying operations. ^[6]

Full‑year FY 2025 performance

For the full fiscal year 2025, Qualcomm reported: ^[7]

Non‑GAAP revenue: ~$44.14 billion (+13% YoY)
Non‑GAAP EPS:$12.03 (+18% YoY)
QCT non‑Apple revenue:+18% YoY
Combined Automotive + IoT revenue:+27% YoY

Management reiterated it remains on track for its 2029 automotive and IoT revenue targets, originally outlined at the 2024 Investor Day, underscoring confidence in diversification beyond smartphones. ^[8]

Guidance for Q1 FY 2026

For the current fiscal Q1 2026 (quarter ending December 2025), Qualcomm guided to: ^[9]

Revenue:$11.8–$12.6 billion (above consensus of ~ $11.6B)
Non‑GAAP EPS:$3.30–$3.50
QCT revenue:$10.3–$10.9 billion
QTL revenue:$1.4–$1.6 billion

Reuters noted that this guidance, combined with Q4’s beat, reflects a rebound in premium smartphone demand, even as Qualcomm prepares for a lower modem share (about 75%) in Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S26 after supplying 100% for the current S25 line. ^[10]

For many analysts, these results and forecasts have reinforced the view that Qualcomm is executing well on its diversification strategy, even while handset cycles remain choppy.

Strategic Growth Engines: AI PCs, Automotive, Data Centers and Edge IoT

AI PCs and Snapdragon X2 Elite

A major pillar of the Qualcomm bull case heading into 2026 is AI‑accelerated PCs powered by the Snapdragon X platform.

At Snapdragon Summit 2025, Qualcomm unveiled Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme—its second‑generation Windows-on‑Arm laptop chips—highlighting: ^[11]

A third‑generation Oryon CPU with up to 18 cores and big single‑ and multi‑core performance gains vs. the first‑gen Snapdragon X.
A new Adreno GPU architecture with ~2.3x better performance per watt versus the prior generation.
An 80‑TOPS NPU (up from 50 TOPS previously), positioning Snapdragon X2 as one of the leading on‑device AI platforms for Windows laptops.

Industry coverage from ABI Research and WIRED emphasizes that Qualcomm is using these chips to challenge Intel and AMD on battery life, performance and on‑device AI, increasingly targeting enterprise PCs via features like Snapdragon Guardian for always‑connected security and remote device management. ^[12]

Qualcomm has suggested a pipeline of roughly 150 AI PC designs through 2026, which, if realized, could turn PCs into a meaningful incremental growth driver. ^[13]

Automotive: Snapdragon Digital Chassis

In automotive, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis continues to gain traction:

Q4 automotive revenue exceeded $1 billion for the first time, up 17% YoY, driven by digital cockpit, connectivity and advanced driver‑assistance (ADAS) content. ^[14]
The company has begun deployments of Snapdragon Ride Pilot (L2+ automated driving), including in BMW’s iX3, and is validating systems across dozens of countries. ^[15]

Management reiterated that automotive is on a credible multi‑year scaling path, supporting an ambitious FY 2029 automotive revenue target. ^[16]

AI data centers and “edge‑to‑cloud” strategy

Qualcomm is also pushing into data‑center AI inference, complementing its traditional strength at the device edge:

In late October, Qualcomm shares soared about 11% in a single session after the company announced new AI data‑center chips designed to compete in inference workloads against Nvidia and AMD. ^[17]
The firm is working with HUMAIN on a planned 200‑megawatt deployment of Qualcomm’s AI data‑center platform starting in 2026, and has indicated discussions with at least one large “hyperscaler” customer. ^[18]

Taken together, management now frames Qualcomm as a hybrid AI company, bridging on‑device, automotive, XR, IoT and cloud inference rather than a pure smartphone chip vendor.

Acquisitions and ecosystem expansion

Recent acquisitions underscore this pivot:

Alphawave (data‑center connectivity, ~$2.4 billion deal), strengthening high‑speed connectivity and SerDes IP for AI data centers. ^[19]
Autotalks, a V2X and automotive safety specialist, bolstering Qualcomm’s automotive stack. ^[20]
Arduino, adding an edge‑developer community of ~30 million users and new hardware such as the Arduino UNO Q to accelerate edge AI design. ^[21]
VinAI (Vietnamese generative‑AI unit), enhancing Qualcomm’s AI research capabilities. ^[22]

Simply Wall St summarizes these moves as part of a deliberate push to become a core enabler of AI across devices, cars and data centers, rather than a single‑segment mobile player. ^[23]

Recent Price Action and Technical Picture

Bounce from $160 support

Technically, Qualcomm has staged a noteworthy recovery in recent sessions. A MarketBeat analysis on December 3 describes how QCOM: ^[24]

Bounced from support around $160, preserving a rising price channel that has been in place since April 2025.
Shows improving momentum indicators, with RSI turning higher and MACD nearing a bullish crossover.
Still trades below its late‑October high (~$205.95), but with $160–165 now viewed as a key “must‑hold” support zone.

MarketBeat cites an average 12‑month analyst price target of $190.38, implying about 9% upside from the current ~$175 level, with a high of $225 and low of $150. ^[25]

Other technical services arrive at more mixed conclusions:

Intellectia.ai sees overall moving averages as bullish (short‑, mid‑ and long‑term SMAs all trending up, with price above key averages), but its composite technical model currently rates QCOM a “Strong Sell” candidate, projecting weaker performance in the next few weeks and highlighting overbought oscillator readings. ^[26]
CoinCodex’s model classifies short‑term sentiment as “bullish” with all tracked moving averages flashing buy signals, and projects a near‑term drift higher (to roughly $179–180 over the next several days), but its one‑year algorithmic forecast calls for a much lower price (around $120), implying significant downside—illustrating how volatile and assumption‑driven these automated models can be. ^[27]

In practice, traders appear to be treating $160–165 as a key floor and the $175–180 zone as immediate resistance, with the broader semiconductor sector still sensitive to macro signals and AI‑stock valuations.

What Wall Street Analysts Are Saying

Despite recent volatility and some cautious technical reads, fundamental analyst sentiment is broadly positive:

MarketBeat:
- Consensus rating: Moderate Buy from 24 analysts (1 sell, 9 hold, 13 buy, 1 strong buy).
- Average 12‑month target:$190.38 (about 8.9% upside). ^[28]
Investing.com:
- 25 analysts with a “Buy” consensus.
- Average price target:$191.8, high $225, low $157, implying roughly 9–10% upside from current levels. ^[29]
Public.com:
- 17 analysts with an aggregate “Buy” rating as of December 6, 2025, and an average target of around $186.94. ^[30]

Recent target revisions skew toward the bullish side. A QuiverQuant compilation shows, among others: ^[31]

Rosenblatt: $225 target
Bank of America: $215 target
J.P. Morgan: $210 target
Susquehanna: $200 target
UBS and Citigroup: more conservative targets in the mid‑$170s

On the valuation front, Simply Wall St’s DCF model suggests Qualcomm is currently undervalued by about 14–15% relative to its estimated intrinsic value, while also noting that the market still doesn’t assign Qualcomm the same premium P/E multiple as some higher‑flying AI peers. ^[32]

That said, Yahoo and other data providers indicate a trailing P/E near 35x and a forward P/E around the mid‑teens, meaning the stock is neither a deep‑value play nor an extreme‑multiple AI momentum name, but something in between. ^[33]

Dividend, Cash Returns and Balance Sheet

For income‑oriented investors, Qualcomm continues to function as an AI‑and‑5G‑exposed dividend stock:

Quarterly dividend:$0.89 per share, or about $3.56 annualized, equating to a ~2% yield near today’s price. ^[34]
FY 2025 capital returns: approximately $12.6 billion returned to shareholders via dividends and buybacks, including $2.44 billion in repurchases and $0.96 billion in dividends in Q4 alone. ^[35]
Operating cash flow: about $14.0 billion in FY 2025, up from ~$12.2 billion in FY 2024, supporting both investment in new AI and automotive platforms and shareholder payouts. ^[36]

This combination of growing free cash flow, ongoing buybacks and a steady dividend is why some commentators, such as The Motley Fool, have recently highlighted Qualcomm as a top dividend stock with AI upside rather than a pure speculative growth name. ^[37]

Risks and Contrarian Signals

Despite the positive narrative, investors should be aware of several key risks that have surfaced in recent coverage:

Smartphone and customer concentration risk
- Qualcomm still depends heavily on a handful of major customers. Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi each account for more than 10% of revenue. ^[38]
- Samsung modem share is expected to drop from 100% in the Galaxy S25 to ~75% in the Galaxy S26, potentially trimming future handset revenue. ^[39]
CEO share sale and legal overhangs
- A recent analysis notes Qualcomm shares fell about 4.2% to $166.75 shortly after earnings, as investors digested news that CEO Cristiano Amon sold roughly 150,000 shares (~$24.8M), about half his position, and a new patent lawsuit surfaced alongside scrutiny of the $2.4B Alphawave deal. ^[40]
- While insider sales don’t automatically signal trouble, they can weigh on sentiment, especially when valuations are elevated.
Valuation and sector volatility
- Reuters recently highlighted broader concerns about stretched valuations in AI‑linked tech stocks, with semiconductor indices selling off sharply on macro jitters even as long‑term AI narratives remain intact. ^[41]
- FullRatio and Simply Wall St both note that Qualcomm’s P/E is well above its recent four‑quarter average and still below many AI peers, placing it in a somewhat precarious middle ground that can be hit by both growth and value rotations. ^[42]
Divergent algorithmic forecasts
- While Wall Street’s 12‑month targets cluster around high‑single‑digit upside, some algorithmic models (e.g., CoinCodex and Intellectia) project short‑term gains but longer‑term price declines, including one forecast that sees QCOM ~30% lower over the next year. ^[43]
- These models are highly sensitive to past price patterns and may not fully incorporate fundamentals, but they illustrate that not all quantitative signals are rosy.

Outlook: How the Qualcomm Story Looks on 6 December 2025

Putting it all together, the Qualcomm stock story today looks something like this:

Fundamentals: Solid. Fiscal 2025 delivered double‑digit revenue and EPS growth, record automotive and IoT results, and robust cash generation, all while the company absorbed a one‑off tax hit. ^[44]
Growth drivers: Multiple. Qualcomm is simultaneously scaling AI PCs, automotive digital chassis, XR/IoT edge platforms and data‑center AI inference, backed by strategic acquisitions and a broad design‑win pipeline. ^[45]
Valuation: Neither cheap nor frothy. A mid‑30s trailing P/E and mid‑teens forward P/E with a ~2% dividend yield places QCOM as a quality, cash‑generative AI and connectivity franchise rather than a hyper‑growth bet. ^[46]
Sentiment: Generally positive among fundamental analysts (consensus Buy/Moderate Buy, high‑$180s to low‑$190s price targets), but more conflicted in technical and algorithmic models, some of which flag near‑term downside risk after a multi‑month rally. ^[47]

For investors following Qualcomm on Google News and Discover, the key things to watch over the coming months include:

Execution on AI PCs – Do Snapdragon X2 laptops gain real market share, especially in enterprise deployments?
Automotive ramp – Can auto revenue stay above $1B per quarter and track toward 2029 targets?
Data‑center AI traction – Does HUMAIN’s deployment and any hyperscaler win turn into material revenue by 2027?
Modem transitions at Apple and Samsung – How much of the lost modem share is offset by higher content in premium devices and new verticals?
Macro and sector rotations – With AI valuations under scrutiny, does the market continue to reward Qualcomm’s more diversified profile?

Important Disclaimer

This article is for informational and news purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Markets can move quickly, forecasts can change, and Qualcomm’s stock may perform very differently from any of the scenarios discussed. Always do your own research or consult a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions.