Qualcomm (QCOM): Notes from the road - takeaways from management meetings in San Diego

Earlier this week we hosted a group of investors for management meetings with Qualcomm's leadership at the company's headquarters in San Diego, meeting with CEO Cristiano Amon, CFO Akash Palkhiwala and Datacenter head Tony Pialis. Overall the company's tone was positive. The diversification story appears well on track, with automotive continuing to overdeliver and datacenter revenues contracted or in the contracting process through the next 2.5 years, giving solid visibility toward the FY29 targets. Management is not quite as negative on handsets as investors seem to be, still assuming an overall market flat to down in CY27, viewing Samsung share as stable at the 70% level, and noting QTL renewals including Apple are now pushed to the 2030-2033 timeframe. Gross margins will probably be complicated for a while, with pricing actions offset by custom ASIC revenue ramp in FY27; the company sees QCT gross margins improving in FY28 and returning to model in FY29. We rate Qualcomm Market-Perf