QCOM - QUALCOMM Incorporated
73.16 0.00 (0.00%)
After hours: 5:00PM EDT
| Previous Close | 72.72 |
| Open | 72.97 |
| Bid | 73.05 x 1000 |
| Ask | 73.16 x 1300 |
| Day's Range | 72.20 - 73.45 |
| 52 Week Range | 49.10 - 90.34 |
| Volume | 6,800,253 |
| Avg. Volume | 21,335,295 |
| Market Cap | 88.941B |
| Beta (3Y Monthly) | 1.59 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 38.63 |
| EPS (TTM) | 1.89 |
| Earnings Date | Jul 31, 2019 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 2.48 (3.41%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | 2019-06-05 |
| 1y Target Est | 88.77 |
- Bloomberg•6 hours ago
Qualcomm Faces Second EU Fine as Vestager’s Last Big-Tech Target
(Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc. faces another European Union antitrust fine a year after being ordered to pay 997 million-euro ($1.13 billion) penalty for thwarting rival suppliers to Apple Inc., according to three people familiar with the latest case.The chip giant may be fined as soon as next month, said the people, who asked not to be named because the process isn’t public. That would make it the last U.S. technology firm to get a large antitrust penalty from Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.Vestager is due to step down later this year after punishing Google with more than $9 billion in fines and ordering Apple to pay more than 14 billion euros in back taxes. She warned in May she was “definitely not done yet” with big tech as she weighs potential new probes into Amazon.com Inc., Google and Apple.The EU’s current Qualcomm investigation targets 3G chips for internet mobile dongles sold between 2009 and 2011. Regulators allege these were sold below cost in order to push Icera, now owned by Nvidia Corp., out of the market. The EU took the unusual move of sending an extra antitrust complaint to Qualcomm last year to bolster its arguments of a “price-cost” test it used to show how far below cost the prices were.Qualcomm and the European Commission declined to comment on the fine. The timing of the penalty could slip beyond the EU’s August summer break, one of the people said.Last year Qualcomm was handed the EU’s fifth-largest antitrust penalty over payments to Apple that the EU said were an illegal ploy to ensure only its chips were used in iPhones and iPads. Qualcomm is challenging the fine at the EU courts.Qualcomm, the largest maker of chips for mobile phones, is unique among semiconductor makers in that it gets most of its profit from licensing patents. Makers of handsets pay the company royalties, whether or not they use its chips. That lucrative profit pool has come under attack as governments around the world scrutinized Qualcomm’s business practices.To contact the reporters on this story: Aoife White in Brussels at awhite62@bloomberg.net;Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Molly SchuetzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
- Market Realist•6 hours ago
Why It’s Time to Get Over Fed Mania and Look at the Economy
Last week, the S&P 500 (SPY) rose to a record high. Last week, Trump tweeted, “Since Election Day 2016, Stocks up almost 50%, Stocks gained 9.2 Trillion Dollars in value, and more than 5,000,000 new jobs added to the Economy.”
- TheStreet.com•2 days ago
Qualcomm Shares Some More About its 5G RF Chip Progress
radio-frequency (RF) chip business has been gradually gaining steam, thanks in part to a strong 5G position. Last summer, Qualcomm unveiled a pair of 5G RF module families -- one for more conventional, sub-6Ghz, spectrum bands, and another for high-frequency, millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands that have limited range but can support very high upload and download speeds. The company followed that up in February of this year by unveiling -- along with a second-gen 5G modem known as the Snapdragon X55 -- a second-gen, mmWave, antenna module and a slew of new RF products for sub-6GHz bands.
- SmarterAnalyst•3 days ago
Qualcomm (QCOM) Faces Challenges, But the Stock Remains a ‘Buy’
With Qualcomm (QCOM) shares rising 50% then quickly falling 25%, many are wondering how to play the stock.While the company scored a major victory with an agreement with Apple to develop 5G on the iPhone, it also recently lost a major court decision that effectively ruled the company had to curb some anticompetitive practices to even the playing field with their competitors. More recently, geopolitics is playing a prominent role in the stock’s volatility, with the US-China tension making investors feeling uneasy about Qualcomm and many other companies that rely on a strong US-China relationship.But in the long term, Morgan Stanley analyst James Faucette is a buyer, as he maintains his Overweight rating with a $95 price target. (To watch Faucette's track record, click here)Though Faucette is cutting his estimates for 2019 and 2020, he expects Qualcomm’s share of Apple’s production mix to increase to 60%. Faucette expects the Apple agreement to add $2 in EPS at “full ramp,” which he expects to take 18 months. But he doesn’t think it stops there, believing “further opportunities with Apple could exist in connectivity use cases beyond handset and in potential RF attachments.”Tensions between the US and China are also contributing to concern over Qualcomm’s stock. Because of the Huawei ban, Faucette says he “reduced [his] assumption of Huawei’s contribution to…$0” this quarter, from about 2% of revenue. But as Huawei is expecting to see a massive slowdown in sales and shipments, Faucette sees Qualcomm playing a role in filling the empty void. He estimates Qualcomm “could see an incremental [EPS increase of] $0.30-$0.70” as a result.Overall, Qualcomm is looked at as the leader of 5G and many see this as contributing to the agreement with Apple. As a result of the agreement, Qualcomm’s stock surged 50% in the aftermath, as rival Intel dropped out of 5G, paving the way for Qualcomm to work with Apple on bringing 5G to the iPhone. But with the recent ruling against Qualcomm, it is possible that Apple could renegotiation the terms of their deal, though many do not see this happening as Qualcomm is holding most of the cards through its leadership in 5G.All in all, while Qualcomm is facing some pressure from China and the courts, Wall Street is still bullish on the company going forward. TipRanks analysis of 24 analyst ratings shows a consensus Moderate Buy rating, with 14 analysts saying Buy, nine saying Hold and only one recommending Sell. The average price target among these analysts stands at $85.29, about 19% above current levels.Read more on QCOM: * Owning Qualcomm (QCOM) Stock Should Be Worth the Noise * Susquehanna Remains Bullish on Qualcomm (QCOM) as the Roller Coaster Ride Continues * Trump’s Trade War Hits U.S. Tech Companies from California to North Carolina * A Look at Qualcomm (QCOM)-FTC Outcome and Its Impact on Apple More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Will Qualcomm (QCOM) Stock Win Again? Canaccord Remains Bullish * CannTrust Holdings (CTST): Even With Entry Into U.S. Market, Investors Must Remain Patient * Deutsche Bank Remains Bullish on UBER and Facebook Stocks * Facebook's (FB) Libra Could Be the Next Big Thing
- InvestorPlace•3 days ago
Friday Apple Rumors: Apple May Use OLED Screens in MacBook and iPad
Leading the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rumor mill today is news of OLED screens coming to more devices. Today, we'll look at that and other Apple Rumors for Friday.OLED Screens: A new rumor claims that Apple is planning to bring OLED screens to more of its products, reports MacRumors. According to this rumor, the tech company is going to bring OLED screens to its tablets, as well as MacBooks. The rumor claims that AAPL is currently in talks with Samsung to have it provide the OLED screens for these devices. It also notes that the company may have to pay Samsung a fee for low OLED screen orders for the iPhone.Foxconn Advice: Foxconn founder Terry Gou is asking AAPL to move production out of China, AppleInsider notes. Gou claims that the tech company would be better off by shifting production of its devices into Taiwan. This would help it avoid the trade war between the U.S. and China, which includes heavy tariffs. This move could take years, but the Foxconn founder believes it is possible.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsFTC Lawsuit: Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is dragging Apple into its legal battle with the FTC, reports 9to5Mac. The antitrust lawsuit against the company is still going on after QCOM appealed a ruling against it. To help make its case, the company is using slides from an internal presentation at AAPL. The FTC is arguing against the use of these slides, which come from its the legal battle between the two companies.Check out more recent Apple Rumors or Subscribe to Apple Rumors : RSS As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Compare Brokers The post Friday Apple Rumors: Apple May Use OLED Screens in MacBook and iPad appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Market Realist•3 days ago
Trade War Fears Deflate Broadcom Stock’s Valuation
Fiscal 2019 has been an interesting year for Broadcom (AVGO). Its revenue has fallen due to weak demand in the wireless communications market, but its profit margins have risen due to declining costs. While Broadcom is succeeding in improving its margins, profit is falling in dollar terms because of declining revenue.
- Reuters•4 days ago
U.S. FTC objects to Qualcomm submission of Apple documents in antitrust case
On Tuesday, Qualcomm submitted them to U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in opposition to a sweeping ruling that would alter its business model as it pursues an appeal. The slides were part of the opening statement presentation in Qualcomm's separate civil trial against Apple in April but were never submitted during Qualcomm's earlier trial with the FTC. If Koh accepts them, they would become part of the record that higher courts review when Qualcomm eventually files an appeal.
- Reuters•4 days ago
UPDATE 1-U.S. FTC objects to Qualcomm submission of Apple documents in antitrust case
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday objected to a move by mobile chip supplier Qualcomm Inc to introduce internal Apple Inc documents in its fight to stop the enforcement of a May antitrust ruling. On Tuesday, Qualcomm submitted them to U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in opposition to a sweeping ruling that would alter its business model as it pursues an appeal. The slides were part of the opening statement presentation in Qualcomm's separate civil trial against Apple in April but were never submitted during Qualcomm's earlier trial with the FTC.
- Market Realist•4 days ago
The Trade War Is Still the Market’s Biggest Concern
In Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s June 2019 survey, the trade war remained the top risk cited by 56% of the respondents. Since Trump’s tweet on May 5, trade tensions have only revived with China retaliating in kind. Time and again, Trump has also talked about bringing another $300 billion worth of Chinese imports under tariffs.
- InvestorPlace•4 days ago
Grab Intel Stock While You Can Get It at These Prices
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is finally enjoying a little bit of relief. Intel's stock price jumped three percent on Tuesday and has advanced nearly five points from its recent lows. But Intel stock is still in the doghouse compared to the overall market. The S&P 500 looks set to reach new all-time highs in coming weeks, and tech stocks are roaring higher as well.Source: Intel Intel's malaise is easy to understand. It is wildly out of favor at the moment, as are other leading semiconductor companies. That's because it's hard to handicap just how long the trade war will continue dragging on. And companies like Intel are highly reliant on China for product sales.Thus, it should come as no surprise that Intel's big bounce on Tuesday came with President Trump tweeting about progress in talks with China. Regardless, however, of whether a deal comes soon or still takes a while, INTC stock is a solid bargain at today's levels.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 6 Stocks Ready to Bounce on a Trade Deal Intel Asks For Huawei ReliefWhile a lot of U.S. companies have been caught in the trade war crossfire, chipmakers have suffered the worst. That's because Chinese equipment makers tend to be the leading customers for many of these firms.Reuters reported that Huawei, for example, buys $70 billion per year of components. Of this, they spend roughly $11 billion on parts from American suppliers. Intel, Qualcom (NASDAQ:QCOM), and Micron (NASDAQ:MU) lead the way in sales to Huawei. Not surprisingly, these firms have appealed directly to the government for trade war relief.Intel's executives spoke with the Commerce Department in May, and Qualcomm has been actively lobbying the government as well. If no action is taken, Huawei is expected to shrink its international smartphone shipments by around 50 percent.It's unclear if these efforts will sway President Trump and his aides, but Trump is clearly motivated by trying to make the stock market go up. Trump has complained about Fed Chair Powell's tighter monetary policy and suggested that the Dow Jones index would be 10,000 points higher if the Fed had acted appropriately.He also tends to tweet positive remarks about the economy whenever the market is sliding. With that backdrop, one has to think Trump will try to make a deal, particularly if semiconductor companies continue to slump in the interim. Intel Stock: Super CheapIn a frothy tech market, Intel remained a bastion of value in recent years. In late 2017, that suddenly changed, however. Intel's stock price soared from $35 to nearly $60 inside of a year. That ended Intel's nearly 20 year period of stagnant stock performance following the tech bust of 2001.However, Intel stock has given back much of its recent gains. With shares down more than 20% from the recent highs while earnings continue to surge, Intel is a bargain again.How much so? It's now trading at 11x trailing earnings and just 10x forward earnings. Sure, there are some reasons for concern. Normally, also-ran AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) doesn't cause Intel much trouble. AMD, for the moment, is offering one of its most compelling product line-ups in the past decade, and that has caused some concern for Intel's market share.Make no mistake though, Intel still has far more resources and a much larger research budget. They'll keep dominating the PC chip industry for years to come. Meanwhile, other growth ventures such as Intel's push into self-driving vehicle tech offer great potential in coming years. It's amazing how the market is giving so little credit to Intel's growth prospects. Just 15x forward earnings would lift Intel's stock price to $67 per share. Strong Dividend PolicyIntel stock is also a reliable source of dividend income. With bond yields cratering again, investors have been racing into defensive stocks like utilities, REITs, and consumer staples. So far, investors haven't flocked into Intel yet. But, as an effective tech utility with a great balance sheet, conservative income investors should gravitate to Intel sooner or later.At this point, Intel is paying a 2.7% dividend. That's not huge, but it's well above the S&P 500 and the 10-year treasury bond which are both at 2.0% or lower. And that tends to come with solid dividend growth as well. Intel has averaged 8%, 6%, and 8% compounded dividend growth over the past three, five, and ten years, respectively. Intel Stock VerdictNo one knows how long the trade war will continue to drag on. I'd predicted that it would wrap up by now, and I've been wrong about that. Traders don't have a good sense either, judging by how much the market swings erratically on every new tweet from Trump's twitter account.Looking at the bigger picture, however, it's kind of silly how much impact the trade war has caused for Intel's share price. The company remains one of the most dominant positions in the tech industry. And for the first time in a while, it has a robust pipeline of growth opportunities that can cause the company's overall revenues and earnings to boom again.With the stock market pushing to new highs, Intel should catch up once trade drama simmers down. I see Intel stock hitting $60 per share - just 13x forward earnings - in the coming months.At the time of this writing, Ian Bezek owned INTC and QCOM stock. You can reach him on Twitter at @irbezek. More From InvestorPlace * 4 Top American Penny Pot Stocks (Buy Before June 21) * 7 Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for a Noisy Market * 5 Strong Buy Biotech Stocks for the Second Half * 6 Stocks Ready to Bounce on a Trade Deal Compare Brokers The post Grab Intel Stock While You Can Get It at These Prices appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Investor's Business Daily•4 days ago
Missed The Chip, Nvidia Rally? 7 Ways You Can Still Play It
Chip shares, like Nvidia stock, are turning into a battleground for bulls and bears. The bulls are winning so far. And, there are still ways in.
- Zacks•5 days ago
Qualcomm (QCOM) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Qualcomm (QCOM) closed at $71.80 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.22% move from the prior day.
- Market Realist•5 days ago
Blackstone CEO Says Don’t Expect a Deal at G20
President Trump’s tweet about the upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping helped boost market sentiments yesterday. Qualcomm (QCOM), Intel (INTC), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 4.1%, 2.7%, and 4.3%, respectively.
- Market Realist•5 days ago
How Markets Went from ‘Trump Trade’ to ‘Trade War Trade’
When Donald Trump was elected as the US President in 2016, we saw a sharp rally in some stocks, especially in the metals and mining space. Trump’s pro-growth policies and trillion-dollar infrastructure plans were expected to lift US metal consumption.
- Market Realist•5 days ago
Trade Resolution, Easy Fed, and Growth Can’t Hold for Long
If the Fed doesn't signal significant easing ahead, the markets could nosedive. Many analysts agree that the markets might be overpricing the Fed's rate cuts this year.
- Market Realist•5 days ago
Amazon Might Join Qualcomm in Indian Supplier NinjaCart
Amazon is interested in purchasing a stake in NinjaCart. Currently, food retail is a booming business in India. Grocery purchases accounted for more than 61% of all the retail spending in India last year.
- Market Realist•5 days ago
Leaving China: Apple Might Move Some of Its Production
Apple (AAPL) seems to be exploring options to partially move its iPhone and other product manufacturing out of China. Apple wants to move ~15%–30% of its production out of China.
- Zacks•5 days ago
NVIDIA Pushes Self-Drive Efforts: Must INTC, QCOM, DXC Worry?
NVIDIA's (NVDA) partnership with Volvo will help it to expand presence, and improve competitive prowess against Intel, Qualcomm and DXC in the autonomous vehicle market.
- Market Realist•5 days ago
Trump Rally: Which Tech Stocks Rose Nearly 5%?
On June 18, the broader market rose sharply after President Trump’s tweet raised the possibility of a near-term solution to the ongoing US-China trade war. The US chip industry has been impacted by the trade war.
- InvestorPlace•5 days ago
For All Of The Problems Facing Qualcomm Stock, China Looms Largest
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), one of the largest U.S. semiconductor makers, has been on a roller coaster ride this year. Following some favorable legal wranglings against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), QCOM stock surged in April before giving back all those gains in May.Source: Karlis Dambrans via FlickrThat retreats came as Qualcomm and some rival domestic semiconductor manufacturers found themselves front and center in the U.S.-China trade imbroglio. Over the past month, Qualcomm stock is off by 16.54%, a loss that is more than 1,000 basis points worse than the decline by the widely followed PHLX Semiconductor index over the same period.Many of the recent ills endured by Qualcomm stock are attributable to the company's relationship with the controversial Chinese company Huawei, which was recently blacklisted by U.S. regulators.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips"While coverage surrounding the U.S. government's Huawei ban has focused primarily on how the Chinese tech giant will be affected, it's worth remembering that the company's U.S. suppliers also stand to lose a great deal of money in the fallout of President Trump's executive order," reported TechRadar. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today Coming down hard on a Chinese company can make for good politics, but there are consequences for American companies, too, particularly in the technology sector. In fact, Qualcomm and rival Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) are among the firms lobbying hard against the Huawei ban.Other Qualcomm rivals, notably Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), are delivering glum earnings or revenue guidance, citing the China trade war. Issues Besides ChinaMay was a bad month for QCOM stock for reasons besides China. Actually, trade tensions were more like another sour ingredient to an already-toxic cocktail that was Qualcomm stock last month. The shares were hit by a double-digit loss on May 24 after U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an antitrust action it brought against Qualcomm.The judge ruled the company used its strong position in the wireless chip market to charge excessive royalties for its patents, unlawfully hurting competition, Barron's reported.Of course, Qualcomm is appealing that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, representing yet another legal overhang for QCOM stock and that means uncertainty and there's nothing that markets hate more than uncertainty."We fully expect Qualcomm to appeal this ruling and try to get the injunctive remedies put off," said Morningstar analysts. "We don't believe Qualcomm's recent licensing agreement with Apple is at risk, yet. That said, we are lowering our fair value estimate for narrow-moat Qualcomm from $80 to $72 and increasing our uncertainty rating to very high as we believe there is too much up in the air related to this ruling and the ongoing Huawei-related issues."Swap "ucertainty" for "lack of clarity," and that's how other analysts are viewing Qualcomm stock right following the company's legal scrap with the FTC. * 10 Stocks to Buy That Wall Street Expects to Soar for the Rest of 2019 "What is clear is that this decision was entirely unexpected and the impact on the business model could be material, assuming QCOM loses on appeal," said Evercore ISI analyst C.J. Muse. "No changes to our rating and price target now as we await more clarity, but there is no doubt this decision will drive shares lower and potentially keep investors (again) on the sidelines until there is more clarity to the certainty of QCOM's royalty and chipset businesses. We will come back as soon as we have more clarity." Bottom Line on QCOM Stock: A Lot Of RisksOn a technical basis, QCOM stock has support at $69, but a violation of that area could result in a decline down to the 200-day moving average more than 9% away.The company's next earnings report is due on July 24 and analysts are expecting Qualcomm to post earnings of 62 cents a share. Should negative guidance, a la Broadcom, emerge, QCOM stock would likely be punished.Additionally, Qualcomm stock trades well below the average analyst price target of almost $89, meaning that if the sell-side starts revising that forecast down, with several negative revisions in a condensed period of time, the shares will sag.Todd Shriber does not own any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * 4 Top American Penny Pot Stocks (Buy Before June 21) * 5 Red-Hot IPO Stocks to Buy for the Long Run * 5 Stocks to Buy for $20 or Less * 4 Dow Jones Stocks Ready to Rise Compare Brokers The post For All Of The Problems Facing Qualcomm Stock, China Looms Largest appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Zacks•6 days ago
Chipmakers QCOM and AVGO Bounce-Back After Rough Week
Recently, there has been significant turmoil surrounding the electronics component sector, specifically in wireless equipment and semiconductors. This was mostly due to the US blacklist of Huawei in May, coupled with increased US-China trade war tensions.
- Benzinga•6 days ago
3 Things To Drive Qualcomm's Outlook Over Next 2 Years
Owning a position in Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM ) is "still worth the noise" as there are three paths for the stock to move as high as $120 per share under a bull-case scenario, according to ...
- Market Realist•6 days ago
Have Semiconductor Stocks Hit Their 2019 Bottom Yet?
Semiconductor stocks could fall further toward the end of June if the United States decides to impose tariffs on the additional $300 billion of Chinese imports and China retaliates with export restrictions on rare earth minerals. The semi stocks could also be impacted by a weak second-quarter earnings season that reflects the financial impact of the trade war.
- InvestorPlace•6 days ago
6 Chip Stocks Staring At Big Headwinds in 2019
Chip stocks have been on a volatile ride over the past year as investors have struggled to grapple with where exactly the semiconductor industry goes next.The iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) rallied to all-time highs in mid-2018 as the industry broadly benefited from record cloud data-center spend, steady PC and smartphone growth, strong global auto growth and burgeoning demand in the AI and IoT end-markets. But, in late 2018, the SOXX ETF tumbled more than 25% on concerns that a slowing global economy was going killing all that robust demand, at the same time that supply was building across the whole sector.Chip stocks shrugged off those fears in early 2019. As the global economy stabilized and recession fears disappeared, so did concerns regarding a slowdown in the semiconductor space. The SOXX ETF rallied back to all-time highs by late April 2019.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsThen, another sell-off began. Trade tensions re-escalated. Recession fears came back. So did concerns surrounding global semi demand. Chip stocks sold off. They remain in selloff mode today. As of this writing, the SOXX ETF trades 15% off its April 2019 highs.What's next in this wild trip for chip stocks? Tough to say. But, it is easy to say that these stocks are broadly staring at big demand headwinds in 2019.The PC and smartphone markets globally are flattening out, because everyone who wants either a computer or a smartphone, already has one. Global auto sales are dropping, especially in China, as consumers continue to express caution with the global economy slowing. Big tech companies are likewise acting more cautiously, and record data-center spend in 2018 is coming down in 2019. * 7 Top-Rated Biotech Stocks to Invest In Today Net net, the backdrop isn't great for chip stocks right now. As such, investors should be cautious when considering an investment in any of the following chip stocks. Micron (MU)Source: Shutterstock One of the riskiest chip stocks here and now is memory chip giant Micron (NASDAQ:MU), for the simple reason that the memory market is notoriously and violently cyclical.In the memory market, it's all about supply-demand fundamentals. When demand is high and supply is low, memory chip prices are high, and memory chip-makers make boat loads of profits. But, when demand is low and supply is high, memory chip prices are low, and memory chip-makers make no profits. Unfortunately, supply and demand in the memory market cycle often and dramatically. Eras of high demand and low supply are usually followed by eras of low demand and high supply. Just look at a chart of Micron's profits or stock price over the past two decades.Right now, we are in the process of the memory market going form high demand and low supply, and to rising supply and falling demand. The rising supply part seems to be moderating. But, the falling demand part isn't moderating, mostly because rising geopolitical tensions continue to dilute memory chip demand. So long as that remains true, Micron's profits will continue to drop, and so will MU stock.As such, until the global memory market demand picture turns positive, MU stock will have a tough time staging a big turnaround. Broadcom (AVGO)Source: Shutterstock One of the biggest semiconductor companies in the world, Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), is not exempt from the macro factors diluting demand across the global semi industry.Broadcom just reported solid second-quarter numbers, which broadly topped expectations and included double-digit revenue growth alongside healthy margin expansion. But, management also delivered a significantly sub-par, full-year guide thanks to what they are calling a "broad-based slowdown in the demand environment". The culprit? Rising geopolitical uncertainties that are causing customers to reduce inventory levels.So long as this slowdown persists, AVGO stock will have a tough time rallying. The stock isn't particularly cheap here relative to its historical standard, at 12-times forward earnings today versus a five-year average forward multiple of 13. As such, you have a stock with not-so-good, go-forward fundamentals, trading at a historically average valuation. * The 7 Best Tech Stocks to Buy for the Second Half of 2019 That's not a great combo. Until this stock gets cheaper -- or until the fundamentals improve -- AVGO stock will likely fail to rally. Qualcomm (QCOM)Source: Shutterstock The story at Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is riddled with question marks. All those question marks against the backdrop of a depressed semi market backdrop could keep QCOM stock stuck in neutral for the foreseeable future.Qualcomm scored a huge win recently, when Apple settled with the chip giant, paid the company a huge lump sum royalty payment and came back on as a Qualcomm customer. Shortly after that, though, it was ruled that Qualcomm's patent royalty practices violated U.S. antitrust law. That's a big deal, since most of Qualcomm's profits come from the high-margin licensing business. The ruling broadly implies that the licensing business is going to have to change, and in a way that will probably dilute profits.Consequently, investors are stuck asking themselves exactly what Qualcomm's licensing business will look like in a few years. The truth is, no one knows. Investors don't like uncertainty. They especially don't like uncertainty when it comes against the backdrop of a depressed macro semi market struggling with falling demand and geopolitical tensions.To be sure, none of these issues will last for QCOM stock. The stock does look like a good long-term buy here, since long-term fundamentals are healthy. But, near-term uncertainty will ultimately keep QCOM stock depressed for the foreseeable future. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)Source: AMD The story at Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is a bit different than the story supporting other chip stocks at the current moment.Specifically, the story at AMD is actually much better. AMD has taken an innovation lead over competitor Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in the CPU market, and it has leveraged that innovation lead to rapidly grow market share over the past several quarters. This market share expansion has driven out-sized revenue growth and margin expansion, which has produced robust profit growth. This market share expansion narrative projects to persist for the foreseeable future, meaning AMD should continue to report pretty good numbers.But, this market share expansion is happening in a market that's struggling with falling demand. At the core of this falling demand is reduced cloud data-center spend from the titans of tech. This spend reduction is a temporary phenomena. But, so long as it lasts, AMD's numbers won't be as good as they need to be, to support the stock's near 50-times forward multiple. * 10 Tech Stocks to Buy Now for 2025 As such, while the story at AMD is better than the story for other chip stocks, the stock is not exempt from macro demand headwinds, and those macro demand headwinds could ultimately hinder the richly valued AMD stock from rallying much further. Nvidia (NVDA)Source: Shutterstock When it comes to shares of GPU giant Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), you have a situation of near-term pain and long-term gain.In the near term, Nvidia will continue to struggle with inventory and pricing issues as cloud data-center spend moderates against the backdrop of a slowing global economy and rising geopolitical tensions. So long as these inventory and pricing issues remain, revenue growth at Nvidia will remain tepid, while margins will remain under pressure. NVDA stock will struggle to rally.In the long term, Nvidia will work through these inventory and pricing issues since secular tailwinds support robust demand for the next several years in the data and AI-related markets that Nvidia services. Once those issues are cleared, big revenue growth will come back into the picture, as will margin expansion. This combination will power healthy profit growth, and that healthy profit growth will drive NVDA stock higher.Net net, the situation at Nvidia is one defined by near-term pain and long-term gain. Thus, depending on your time horizon, NVDA stock is either an avoid here, or a good buy. Texas Instruments (TXN)Source: Shutterstock Over at semiconductor giant Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), you have a chip stock that has worrisome exposure to the slowing global auto market.Texas Instruments views the industrial and auto markets as the best markets in the semiconductor space, and as such, has focused their resources on maximizing exposure to those markets. Over 50% of revenues now come from the auto and industrial markets. Four to five years ago, that number hovered around 40%.The problem here is that the auto market is fading globally. China auto sales have been tumbling for several months. The U.S. auto market has been weak lately, even with low interest rates. The European auto market is seeing declines for the first time since 2013. Broadly, after several years of red-hot growth, the global auto market is in retreat, and that's not good news for Texas Instruments. * The 10 Best Index Funds to Buy and Hold At the same time, TXN stock isn't cheap for a semi stock, trading at 20-times forward earnings. That combination of a not-cheap valuation and mounting headwinds in the company's most important market, ultimately means that TXN stock may not have much room for further upside in the foreseeable future.As of this writing, Luke Lango was long QCOM and INTC. More From InvestorPlace * 4 Top American Penny Pot Stocks (Buy Before June 21) * 5 Red-Hot IPO Stocks to Buy for the Long Run * 5 Stocks to Buy for $20 or Less * 4 Dow Jones Stocks Ready to Rise Compare Brokers The post 6 Chip Stocks Staring At Big Headwinds in 2019 appeared first on InvestorPlace.
- Zacks•6 days ago
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Alphabet, Qualcomm, Broadcom and Apple
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Alphabet, Qualcomm, Broadcom and Apple
