Things were looking better for Qualcomm
The final quarter of fiscal 2008 capped a good year for Qualcomm's operations.. The Nokia license agreement comprised $560 million of the $3.3 billion in revenue in the quarter, around a 44% boost over last year. Qualcomm is counting itself as another benefactor of the run on smartphones, as the company noted this was a major factor in keeping the average selling price of handsets strong. Qualcomm hopes to continue the trend, placing its silicon in numerous high-end devices such as Google's
But while Qualcomm had a lot of new cash coming in the door, a significant chunk of its greenbacks parked in investments has recently evaporated, including preferred shares of Fannie Mae
And the outlook for 2009 went from strength to weakness within a matter of weeks. Qualcomm has recently seen a significant pullback in orders from its chip customers. It now estimates that a swift inventory contraction will hurt sales in the coming few quarters. Emerging markets are also expected to make up a larger portion of sales, combining with a strong dollar to drop the average selling price of handsets. For these reasons, the company pulled back its earnings target for fiscal 2009, from around $2.60 per share to around $2 to $2.10.
Qualcomm noted that there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty facing the mobile-device sector right now. While Apple
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