Until Qualcomm Can Respond To Intel And Apple, Barclays Is Moving To The Sidelines


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Barclays’ Christopher Hemmelgarn downgraded the rating for QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) from Overweight to Equal-weight, while reducing the price target from $55 to $50.

Although for months there has been speculation of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) securing a portion of the IP7, the impact on Qualcomm is not clear as yet. Analyst Christopher Hemmelgarn added, “[W]e are moving to the sidelines until this transition and QCOM's response is better understood.”

ENTER TO WIN $500 IN STOCK OR CRYPTO

Enter your email and you'll also get Benzinga's ultimate morning update AND a free $30 gift card and more!

Impact On Modem Business

Intel is widely expected to take some share at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in 2016. Checks have not revealed the percent allocation that Intel will get. Hemmelgarn mentioned, however, that a 20 percent Intel share could adversely impact Qualcomm’s EPS by -$0.13.

“We clearly stayed with the OW on QCOM too long, but we always had the view that QCOM's modem business was a defensible franchise that should be able to outlast the smaller competitors. We clearly underestimated Intel's ability to lose billions of dollars in this pursuit of mobile, but we also thought QCOM would make a larger effort to monetize the modem business it still has,” the analyst wrote.

Although Qualcomm has made efforts to win back business with its 820 IC, Intel’s likely move would make the road ahead a lot tougher for Qualcomm. Hemmelgarn expressed concern regarding the company’s ability to generate “the right level of profitability” from the modem business. He added, “If QCOM can't fix that problem then this would be bad business for both companies unfortunately.”

The EPS estimate for FY1 and FY2 have been reduced from $4.13 to $4.00 and from $5.02 to $4.39, respectively.


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Posted In: Analyst ColorDowngradesPrice TargetAnalyst RatingsBarclaysChristopher Hemmelgarn