New York, Feb 6, 2026, 19:36 EST — After-hours.
- Qualcomm closed out Friday with a 0.8% gain, then barely moved in after-hours trading.
- Still working through a shaky forecast, the stock faces pressure from an ongoing global memory supply crunch.
- Attention turns to supply-chain updates and smartphone demand as March industry events approach.
Qualcomm Incorporated finished Friday’s regular session up 0.76%, ending at $137.34. The stock barely budged after hours, last quoted near $137.30.
Investors reacted after the chipmaker flagged a global memory chip shortage this week, warning it’s hitting smartphone production and dampening short-term demand for Qualcomm’s mobile processors. For the fiscal second quarter, Qualcomm projected revenue between $10.2 billion and $11 billion, with adjusted EPS coming in at $2.45 to $2.65—both ranges missing Wall Street’s targets. “I’m very happy with the business – I just wish we had more memory,” CEO Cristiano Amon told Reuters. Reuters
Qualcomm turned in fiscal first-quarter revenue of $12.252 billion, with non-GAAP earnings per share landing at $3.50. These adjusted numbers exclude things like share-based comp and other items spelled out in the company’s release. Qualcomm also handed back $3.6 billion to shareholders for the quarter, a mix of dividends and buybacks.
The memory crunch isn’t letting up anytime soon, according to executives and analysts. Qualcomm is bracing for the shortage to persist through this fiscal year—and possibly into 2027. “Unfortunately, I think that the whole sector is impacted by memory,” CEO Amon told analysts after earnings. eToro’s Zavier Wong pointed to “broader industry trends” behind the weak results, rather than anything specific to Qualcomm. Reuters
Qualcomm managed a slight uptick as U.S. equities broadly rallied, chipmakers leading the way thanks to revived appetite for AI-related bets. Notably, the Dow finished above 50,000 for the first time ever. Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom all posted big gains.
For Qualcomm, what’s next comes down to whether memory shortages loosen up soon enough for handset makers—particularly in China, where executives have cited inventory cutbacks—to get back to building devices. Traders are scanning for any specifics on the fallout between mid- and low-end phones versus premium models, the latter being where Qualcomm’s pricier chips usually show up.
Late Friday, a separate filing revealed CFO and COO Akash Palkhiwala unloaded small lots of Qualcomm shares on Feb. 6 through a Rule 10b5-1 plan, the kind that lets insiders map out their stock sales ahead of time. After these trades, Palkhiwala’s direct holdings stood at 35,599 shares.
On the flip side, it’s straightforward: stubbornly high memory prices and restricted allocations give smartphone brands every reason to keep slashing output, stretching out the reset for handset chips. If that’s how things play out, relief rallies could sputter out quickly—even with AI chip demand holding up in other corners of the market.
Mobile World Congress lands in Barcelona March 2–5, the next major stop for the industry. It’s where device makers and suppliers tend to roll out news that can swing sentiment on spring smartphone production — and set the tone for whether Qualcomm’s guidance ends up looking overly cautious, or if it’s still not cautious enough.
