Topic: How To Invest

What is your recommendation on Qualcomm? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Qualcomm, $73.20, symbol QCOM on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $123.6 billion; www.qualcomm.com), makes chips for mobile devices. Qualcomm doesn’t own factories. Instead, it designs its chips and uses outside firms to make them. That adds to the company’s growth potential. But it also adds risk—particularly if suppliers run late on deliveries, or supply defective chips. A big part of Qualcomm’s success is its ability to keep up with changing mobile technology. In the year ended September 29, 2013, it spent $5.0 billion, or a high 20% of its revenue, on research. Qualcomm’s strong balance sheet will let it keep developing new products: it has no debt and holds cash and securities of $29.4 billion, or $17.29 a share. The company will probably earn $5.00 a share in fiscal 2014. It trades at 14.6 times that forecast. That’s reasonable in light of Qualcomm’s rising earnings and high research spending. The shares yield 1.9%. Qualcomm is okay to hold. hold…