Qualcomm Drops 4% After Q4 Report

Shares of Qualcomm QCOM are taking a hit in after hours trading after the company announced its fourth-quarter earnings results. The chip maker's Q4 EPS came to $1.05 -- a few pennies shy of the $1.08 estimate that Wall Street anticipated. Earnings per share were up 18 percent from the year-ago period. "I am very pleased with our record financial performance this year as we delivered revenues of $25 billion, up 30% versus last year," Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, said in a company release. "Our technologies underpin the global growth of wireless data, and our semiconductor solutions are used across the industry's flagship smartphones. "Looking forward, we expect continued strong growth of 3G and 3G/4G multimode devices around the world, particularly in China with the anticipated launch of LTE. Qualcomm remains well positioned from a growth standpoint, and we expect double-digit compound annual growth rates for both revenues and earnings per share over the next five years." Qualcomm also announced that it expects to report a Q1 EPS between $1.10 and $1.20, and expects sales to fall within the $6.3 billion to $6.9 billion range. The company's full-year EPS is expected to fall within the $4.95 to $5.15 range, Qualcomm revealed, versus the Wall Street estimate of $4.95. Full-year sales are slated to hit the $26 billion to $27.5 billion range versus the Street estimate of $27.5 billion. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ