Rosenblatt Turns Bullish On Qualcomm, Highlights 5G Opportunity

The global telecom market could be as close as one year away from a 5G launch, and companies like QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM are well-positioned to play a major role, according to Rosenblatt Securities. 

The Analyst

Rosenblatt's Jun Zhang upgraded Qualcomm from Neutral to Buy with a price target lifted from $56 to $70.

The Thesis

China is likely to start commercial service trials of 5G networks in the bottom half of 2019 ahead of what could be a global mass adoption in 2020, Zhang said in the upgrade note. (See the analyst's track record here.) 

Smartphone players will need to satisfy the demand by enabling 5G technologies by the second half of 2019 at the latest, the analyst said. 

Rival 5G modems from Huawei and Intel Corporation INTC are unlikely to be ready for mass adoption in time, which implies smartphone makers will likely adopt Qualcomm's 5G modem and RF module, Zhang said. Qualcomm is likely to lower its 4G license fee, but the increase in fees from 5G will be sufficient to offset the reduction from 4G, he said. 

Aside from 5G, Qualcomm's ultrasonic under display finger print sensors appear to be gaining traction at Samsung and Huawei, which implies the potential for a notable ramp in the fingerprint segment in the near-term, Zhang said.

At an average selling price between $12 and $15, Qualcomm is likely to see total fingerprint sensor shipments reach 20 to 25 million units in the bottom half of 2018 before growing to 60 to 80 million units for all of 2019, according to Rosenblatt's projections. 

Price Action

Qualcomm shares were down 0.23 percent at $65.91 at the time of publication Monday. 

Related Links:

Qualcomm's Risk-Reward Is Too Favorable to Ignore, Cowen Says In Upgrade

For Qualcomm, Now Comes The 'Really, Really Hard Part'

Photo courtesy of Qualcomm.