Qualcomm Falls About 9% Premarket as a Light Forecast Overshadows a Record $2 Billion Quarter in Auto Chips

Shares of Qualcomm fell about 9% in premarket trading on Thursday, November 5, 2026, after the chipmaker's profit forecast for the current quarter came in below Wall Street expectations, even as it reported fiscal fourth-quarter results slightly ahead of estimates and record revenue from automotive chips.

The San Diego-based company said in its earnings release on Wednesday, November 4, that non-GAAP revenue for the quarter ended September 27, 2026, was $10.44 billion, down 7% from $11.27 billion a year earlier. Revenue under generally accepted accounting principles was $10.32 billion, down 8%. Adjusted earnings were $2.17 per share, down 28% from $3.00, while GAAP earnings were $1.17 per share, compared with a loss of $2.89 per share a year earlier.

Results versus estimates

Analysts polled by LSEG had expected adjusted earnings of $2.16 per share, CNBC reported. Investing.com put the consensus revenue estimate at $10.14 billion.

For the fiscal first quarter, Qualcomm forecast revenue of $10.4 billion to $11.2 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.15 to $2.35 per share. Analysts had expected earnings of $2.27 per share on revenue of $10.48 billion, according to CNBC.

Handsets weaken, autos hit a record

Revenue in QCT, the chip business, fell 8% to $9.02 billion. Sales of handset chips dropped 26% to $5.14 billion, trailing a StreetAccount estimate of $5.21 billion, CNBC said. Most of Qualcomm's chip sales come from processors and modems for smartphones, a market where rising memory costs are forcing handset makers to raise prices and hurting demand, according to CNBC.

Qualcomm raised its own prices in September, CNBC reported. The company said it is starting to see sequential growth in handsets and that Android shipments in China have bottomed, but it expects the handset market to be flat in 2027.

Automotive revenue rose 89% to a record $1.99 billion, which the company described as its first $2 billion quarter for automotive chips, beating a StreetAccount estimate of $1.66 billion. Internet of things revenue rose 4% to $1.89 billion. Revenue in QTL, the licensing unit, fell 7% to $1.30 billion. The company said it had renewed long-term license agreements with Apple, Huawei and Transsion.

Data center plans and costs

"Fiscal 2027 marks the start of our non-handset revenue inflection, including the ramp of our Data Center business," Chief Executive Cristiano Amon said in the release. The company said non-handset revenue is projected to grow by more than 60% in fiscal 2027 and reiterated a target of $5 billion in data center revenue for the year. It also announced a multi-generational product collaboration with Amazon for AI data centers.

Amon said Qualcomm had $650 million in data center revenue during the quarter, mostly from customization and connectivity work, CNBC reported. "We don't have a demand issue; it's a supply issue," he said.

Qualcomm said the semiconductor industry is facing a broad-based increase in input costs, including wafer fabrication, packaging and memory, and that it is raising product prices in response. It expects the full benefit of those actions to show up in QCT gross margins in the second half of fiscal 2027.

Full year and capital returns

For fiscal 2026, GAAP revenue was $43.12 billion, down 3%, and adjusted earnings were $10.54 per share, compared with $12.03 a year earlier. GAAP earnings of $12.70 per share included a $5.7 billion income tax benefit, or $5.32 per share. Qualcomm returned about $2.0 billion to shareholders in the fourth quarter, including $1.01 billion of share repurchases and $987 million in dividends.

Share price snapshot

Qualcomm shares closed Wednesday's regular session at $173.19, up 5.33%. CNBC reported the stock slid 7% in extended trading after the report. By about 7:06 a.m. ET on Thursday, it was trading near $156.70 in premarket activity, roughly 9.5% below Wednesday's close, according to Yahoo Finance data. Premarket prices are thinly traded snapshots and can change significantly before and after the 9:30 a.m. ET open.