Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations, but revenue and guidance for the fourth quarter came up short.
Earnings measured $1.87 per share, versus $1.81 per share expected,
Revenue checked in at $8.44 billion, versus $8.5 billion expected.
Qualcomm said it expected earnings of between $1.80 and $2 per share on between $8.1 billion and $8.9 billion in sales in the fourth quarter, short of Refinitiv consensus expectations of $1.91 in earnings on $8.7 billion in revenue.
Net income during the quarter fell to $1.8 billion, or $1.60 per share, a staggering 52% drop from the $3.73 billion, or $3.29 per share, reported a year earlier.
Qualcomm is exposed to the slumping smartphone industry because it makes the processors at the heart of most high-end Android devices and many lower-end phones.
Shipments of new devices are expected by analysts to decline in 2023 and Qualcomm repeated that it expects handset units to decline a “high-single digit percentage” this year, partially due to a slow China recovery. However, the chipmaker said it sees growth in handsets starting in the holiday season.
QCT, Qualcomm’s biggest division that sells processors for smartphones, cars, and other smart devices, reported $7.17 billion in sales, down 24% from a year earlier.
Handset chip sales are the biggest part of QCT, and those declined 25% year over year to $5.26 billion.
QCOM shares crumbled $12.28, or 9.5% to $117.00.
