New York, Feb 15, 2026, 14:56 ET — The market has closed.
- Qualcomm (QCOM) closed Friday at $140.70, up 1.61%. (Bloomberg.com)
- U.S. stock markets take a break Monday for Presidents Day, with trading picking back up on Tuesday, Feb. 17. (Nasdaq)
- Samsung has scheduled its Galaxy Unpacked event for Feb. 25 in San Francisco, with the livestream starting at 10 a.m. PT. (Samsung Global Newsroom)
Qualcomm finished Friday at $140.70, up 1.6%, with roughly 13.1 million shares traded. U.S. markets will stay shut Monday for Presidents Day, so trading resumes Tuesday. (Yahoo Finance)
This hits because QUALCOMM Incorporated is a heavyweight in the smartphone parts ecosystem—its guidance now a pressure valve for chip stocks tied to handsets. Back on Feb. 4, the company put out a second-quarter revenue target between $10.2 billion and $11 billion, plus adjusted EPS (excluding some items) at $2.45 to $2.65 a share. Both landed short of Wall Street’s hopes, with QUALCOMM laying blame on a global memory-chip shortage and “OEMs,” or phone makers, pulling back as supply got squeezed. “I’m very happy with the business — I just wish we had more memory,” CEO Cristiano Amon told Reuters. Shares dropped roughly 9% in after-hours—outside regular U.S. trading—after those numbers. (Reuters)
The broader market hasn’t offered much support. Friday saw the S&P 500 finish just above flat, with the Nasdaq drifting lower—even as fresh U.S. inflation data took some of the heat off and pushed June rate-cut expectations a bit higher, according to CME’s FedWatch. “Large cap tech stocks continue to be an anchor on the market,” said Michael James, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities. (Reuters)
Chip stocks managed to fare a little better heading into the weekend. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks leading chipmakers, edged up 0.66% Friday. (Investing.com)
Qualcomm isn’t the only one flagging memory as a problem. Executives there warned the tight supply could stretch through their current fiscal year and even into 2027. Arm CFO Jason Child didn’t sugarcoat it: “Unfortunately, I think that the whole sector is impacted by memory.” eToro’s Zavier Wong went further: “The results largely reflect broader industry trends rather than Qualcomm-specific issues.” Counterpoint Research projects a 7% fall in advanced smartphone chip shipments in 2026. Despite the pressure, Amon said Qualcomm’s upcoming data-center AI chips, scheduled for the back half of the year, shouldn’t be affected by the shortage. (Reuters)
Looking to the coming week, traders are eyeing any signals on memory supply and pricing, and watching closely for evidence that smartphone manufacturers are stocking up again instead of cutting back on production plans. U.S. markets take a pause Monday, so expect some choppy positioning heading into Tuesday’s open.
Still, there’s a risk lurking—should memory supply squeeze more or prices climb again, handset output could falter, regardless of what demand surveys suggest. That spells trouble for Qualcomm’s handset-chip shipments, dragging on the stock’s appeal.
Tuesday brings markets back online after the break. Looking further out, Samsung’s set to launch its new flagship phones at the Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on Feb. 25, kicking off at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. That’s the moment analysts are eyeing for a clearer sense of premium Android appetite, an area where Qualcomm’s exposure is front and center. (wired.com)
