Update July 21. After the close of the market yesterday, July 20, Qualcomm (QCOM), the biggest maker of chips that run mobile phones, reported net income of 97 cent a share for the quarter that ended on June 26. That beat the 73 cents a share earned in June quarter of 2015. Excluding one time items earnings came to $1.16 a share. Wall Street analysts had forecast earnings, excluding items, of 97 cents.
Revenue climbed to $6.04 billion, up 3.6% year over year. Now that might not seem much of an increase, but this quarter marks the first time in a year that the company hasn’t reported a double-digit drop in revenue. Analysts were looking for revenue of $5.59 billion.
Sure a big surprise since growth has pretty much disappeared for the makers of higher end smart phones, the part of the market that Qualcomm dominates.But this quarter Qualcomm saw an increase in licensing revenue from Chinese makers of chip sets for phones.
But Qualcomm wasn’t done with the surprises. The company raised guidance for the September quarter to $5.4 billion to $6.2 billion in revenue. Profit before items will be $1.05 to $1.15 a share, the company now forecasts. Wall Street had been looking for revenue of $5.72 billion and earnings of $1.08 a share for the quarter.
Qualcomm has been one of the best performers in my Dividend Income portfolio, climbed 17.79% as of the close today, from my original purchase date of May 5, 2016. The shares were up 20% for 2016 to date as of today’s close.
That higher price per share unfortunately lowers the dividend yield but Qualcomm still yields 3.53%. The company raised its quarterly dividend from 48 cents a share to 53 cents share in April. The next dividend of 53 cents a share will be paid to shareholders of record as of August 31, 2016.
I like the trend in the company’s business and its ability to grow revenue, finally, during what isn’t the easiest market for smart phones. And I like the growth in the company’s dividend–to 53 cents a share now from a quarterly 42 cents a share in March 2015. I’m keeping Qualcomm in my Dividend Income portfolio.
