Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) heads into Monday’s U.S. session trading around $174.81 per share, about 15% below its 52‑week high of $205.95 after a solid run into year‑end. [1]
Fresh institutional filings, new valuation work and ongoing excitement about Qualcomm’s AI, automotive and IoT businesses all hit the wires on December 7, 2025, giving investors plenty to digest before the opening bell. [2]
Below is a concise, news‑style rundown of the key numbers, latest headlines, forecasts and risks that matter for QCOM on 8 December 2025. This article is for information only and is not personal investment advice.
1. Qualcomm stock snapshot heading into Monday’s open
- Last close (Fri, Dec 5, 2025): $174.81, up 0.26% on the day, with roughly 8.4 million shares changing hands. [3]
- 52‑week range: $120.80 – $205.95. [4]
- Market value & balance sheet: Market cap about $187 billion, debt‑to‑equity of 0.70, and comfortable liquidity with a quick ratio of 2.10 and current ratio of 2.82. [5]
- Valuation: Trailing P/E around 35–36 and a PEG ratio near 3.8, placing Qualcomm at a premium to the broader market but in line with high‑growth chip peers. [6]
- Dividend: Quarterly dividend of $0.89 per share (annualized $3.56, yield ~2.0%), with the next payment scheduled for December 18, 2025 to shareholders of record as of December 4. [7]
- Momentum: Simply Wall St puts Qualcomm’s 90‑day share price return at 9.1%, year‑to‑date gain at 13.8%, and three‑year total shareholder return at 57.2%. [8]
In other words, QCOM is not at peak euphoria, but it’s far from distressed territory: the stock sits well above its 2025 lows, but below the late‑October AI‑driven spike.
2. Earnings recap: record fiscal 2025 and upbeat 2026 guidance
Record revenue — but a GAAP hit from tax law
On November 5, 2025, Qualcomm reported fourth‑quarter fiscal 2025 revenue of $11.27 billion, up 10% year over year, and non‑GAAP EPS of $3.00, up 12% from $2.69 a year ago. [9]
For the full fiscal year (ended September 28, 2025):
- GAAP revenue: $44.28 billion, up 14% vs. 2024.
- Non‑GAAP revenue: $44.14 billion, up 13%.
- Non‑GAAP EPS:$12.03, 18% higher than last year’s $10.22. [10]
GAAP net income, however, was dragged down by a non‑cash tax charge of about $5.7 billion, tied to U.S. tax legislation that forced Qualcomm to revalue deferred tax assets; management highlighted that this does not affect day‑to‑day cash generation but does distort GAAP results. [11]
Segment trends: phones stabilizing, auto and IoT accelerating
Qualcomm’s chip division (QCT) delivered record revenue in fiscal 2025, with 18% year‑over‑year growth in non‑Apple QCT sales, and combined Automotive + IoT revenue up 27%. [12]
Light Reading notes that total revenue growth was driven by:
- Strong demand for premium Android handsets using Snapdragon processors.
- Expansion of the Snapdragon Digital Chassis in automotive.
- IoT wins in industrial equipment, Wi‑Fi 7 access points, fixed wireless and smart glasses. [13]
Licensing (QTL), the higher‑margin but slower‑growing business, was roughly flat at about $5.5 billion in revenue for the year, after a small decline in Q4. [14]
Guidance: Q1 FY2026 above expectations
For Q1 FY2026, Qualcomm guided to:
- Revenue: $11.8–$12.6 billion, above prior consensus of roughly $11.6 billion. [15]
- Non‑GAAP EPS: $3.30–$3.50, ahead of Wall Street’s ~$3.26 expectation at the time of guidance. [16]
MarketBeat notes analysts expect about $9.39 in EPS for fiscal 2026, implying a forward earnings multiple in the high‑teens to low‑20s at current prices. [17]
3. Qualcomm’s big AI bets: from phones to data centers
AI200 and AI250: Qualcomm steps into AI data centers
One of the most important new storylines for Qualcomm stock is its push into AI data center chips:
- In late October, Qualcomm unveiled AI200 and AI250 AI accelerator chips for data centers, repurposing its mobile Hexagon neural processing technology for server‑class workloads. [18]
- The AI200, launching in 2026, can be deployed in clusters of up to 72 chips and is designed specifically for AI inference (running trained models) with up to 768GB of memory per system. [19]
- The AI250, due in 2027, is positioned as a major step up in energy efficiency for inference workloads. [20]
- Saudi Arabia–backed Humain has already committed to using these chips in regional data centers, giving Qualcomm an anchor customer out of the gate. [21]
When the data center move was first announced, Qualcomm shares surged double‑digits and were among the top performers in the S&P 500 that day, underscoring investor enthusiasm for a new growth avenue alongside Nvidia and AMD. [22]
Investor’s Business Daily has also reported on Qualcomm’s formal entry into the AI data center market and highlighted Humain as its first publicly named customer, framing the move as a direct challenge to Nvidia’s dominance in inference workloads. [23]
AI PCs and Snapdragon X2 Elite
On the client side, Qualcomm is trying to turn its Snapdragon X family into a central player in AI PCs:
- At the 2025 Snapdragon Summit, the company introduced Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, 18‑core Windows chips with an NPU rated around 80 TOPS and a redesigned GPU aimed at multi‑day battery life. [24]
- Wired and industry analysts describe the X2 series as the “second act” of Qualcomm’s Windows laptop revolution, after the first X Elite significantly closed the performance gap with x86 laptops. [25]
- Recent leaks suggest Qualcomm’s PC chips could also power upcoming Android‑based desktop and laptop devices, indicating a broader ecosystem for its CPU and NPU designs. [26]
If AI PCs and Qualcomm’s data‑center AI roadmap both gain traction, the company’s earnings mix could gradually shift away from its traditional reliance on smartphone chips.
4. Automotive & IoT: from optional extras to real growth engines
Simply Wall St’s December 7 note emphasizes that Qualcomm’s automotive and industrial IoT segments are increasingly central to the bullish thesis:
- Management is targeting a combined automotive + IoT revenue opportunity of about $22 billion by fiscal 2029, supported by design‑win pipelines in digital cockpits, telematics, industrial gateways and more. [27]
- These businesses tend to carry higher margins than core handset chips and offer multi‑year visibility thanks to long product cycles in autos and industrial equipment. [28]
Qualcomm’s 2025 M&A strategy also aligns with this diversification: it acquired Autotalks (vehicle‑to‑everything communications), Alphawave (connectivity and SerDes IP) and open‑source hardware firm Arduino, bolstering its automotive, networking and developer ecosystems. [29]
5. Valuation, forecasts and Wall Street sentiment
Analyst ratings and price targets
Across multiple data providers, Qualcomm currently sits in a “Moderate Buy” zone:
- MarketBeat counts 23–33 recent analyst opinions with 13 Buy, around 9 Hold and 1 Sell, for an average target price around $189–$192 per share — roughly 8–10% above the current price. [30]
- Individual price targets from large banks cluster in the $175–$225 range, with several brokers lifting their estimates following the Q4 beat and AI announcements, even as Mizuho has voiced concerns about chip division margins. [31]
Zacks noted this week that earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have been revised upward by roughly 2–3%, which it interprets as strengthening the fundamental case for the stock. [32]
Quantitative valuations
Different valuation models are generally constructive but not euphoric:
- A discounted cash flow model on Yahoo Finance recently suggested Qualcomm might be about 15% undervalued, depending on growth and discount‑rate assumptions. [33]
- Simply Wall St’s narrative model pegs “fair value” at roughly $191.80, implying about 9% upside from the current share price. [34]
- Free‑cash‑flow trackers show trailing FCF around $12.8 billion, above a three‑period rolling average of $11.3 billion — a sign that cash generation is heading in the right direction. [35]
Put together, Wall Street and quantitative models mostly see modest upside from here, not a screaming bargain nor a crowded bubble.
6. Ownership, insider selling and institutional flows
Two fresh December 7 filings caught investor attention:
- Federated Hermes cut its Qualcomm stake by 32.6% in Q2, selling about 724,000 shares and ending the quarter with 1.50 million shares (roughly $238.5 million). [36]
- Cary Street Partners Financial trimmed its holding by 5.7% to 94,330 shares (about $15 million). [37]
At the same time, several large institutions — including Kingstone Capital, Norges Bank, Amundi and AQR — have built or increased sizable positions, and institutional ownership sits around 74% of the float. [38]
Insider activity is more nuanced:
- CEO Cristiano Amon sold 150,000 shares (about $24.8 million) in October.
- CFO Akash Palkhiwala sold about 8,300 shares, with total insider selling over the last quarter around 164,661 shares (~$27.3 million). [39]
Insiders now hold only about 0.08% of outstanding shares, so these trades matter mostly as sentiment signals rather than structural control changes. [40]
7. Macro, regulatory and geopolitical risks to keep in mind
Even with strong operational momentum, Qualcomm’s risk profile remains complex.
Heavy China exposure
Light Reading reports that 46% of Qualcomm’s fiscal 2025 revenue came from customers headquartered in China, up from 37% in 2023. [41]
That concentration creates several intertwined risks:
- Trade and national‑security tensions could disrupt export licenses or limit sales to key customers.
- China’s ongoing antitrust review of the Autotalks acquisition adds another regulatory overhang. [42]
Analysts note that many Qualcomm chips sold into China are embedded in devices that are exported globally; a hard ban could harm both Chinese OEMs and the broader smartphone supply chain, which may reduce the likelihood of extreme measures — but the risk is clearly flagged in Qualcomm’s 10‑K. [43]
Licensing and legal battles
Two legal themes remain in the background:
- Qualcomm recently declared “full victory” in its long‑running Arm licensing dispute, after a U.S. district court rejected the remaining claims, clearing the way for the company to keep using cutting‑edge Arm cores in its chips. [44]
- In the UK, a £620 million class action continues to challenge Qualcomm’s smartphone patent licensing practices, arguing that its SEP licensing terms breached fair‑and‑reasonable (FRAND) obligations. A loss or settlement could impact how Qualcomm licenses its 4G/5G IP in Europe. [45]
Cyber and vendor‑risk headlines
A recent report on a third‑party vendor breach at ASUS mentioned Qualcomm in a list of companies whose data may have been exposed via a compromised supplier. There has been no indication of material financial impact so far, but it’s a reminder that supply‑chain cybersecurity is an ongoing operational risk for complex chipmakers. [46]
8. Key things to watch on December 8, 2025
For traders and longer‑term investors alike, here’s a quick checklist before the opening bell:
- Pre‑market reaction to December 7 articles and filings
- New analyses from Simply Wall St, MarketBeat and others that framed QCOM as modestly undervalued with rising AI and auto/IoT momentum could support sentiment. [47]
- At the same time, headlines about insider selling and large institutions trimming stakes may keep some investors cautious.
- Follow‑through on the AI data center story
- Watch for additional commentary or design‑win announcements around AI200/AI250 or Qualcomm’s AI200‑powered Humain partnership, especially in the wake of NeurIPS 2025 in San Diego where Qualcomm has been actively recruiting and showcasing its AI research. [48]
- AI PC ecosystem updates
- Any fresh OEM launches or benchmarks around Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops (or rumored Android PCs) can shift expectations for Qualcomm’s PC revenue ramp in 2026 and beyond. [49]
- Macro and geopolitical headlines
- With nearly half of revenue tied to China‑based customers, news on U.S.–China trade, export controls or regulatory probes could move the stock even without company‑specific announcements. [50]
- Dividend and income‑investor positioning
- The upcoming December 18 dividend might keep some income‑focused investors engaged, even as growth‑oriented traders weigh AI optionality against valuation and macro risks. [51]
Bottom line
Heading into the December 8, 2025 open, Qualcomm sits at the crossroads of several powerful themes:
- A core handset business that has stabilized and is benefiting from premium Android demand.
- Fast‑growing automotive and IoT segments with long multi‑year contracts.
- A bold push into AI PCs and AI data centers that, if successful, could materially reshape the company’s earnings profile over the next three to five years.
Analysts broadly see moderate upside from current levels, but the stock carries meaningful exposure to China, regulatory scrutiny of its licensing model, and execution risk in hyper‑competitive AI markets.
References
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