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QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM

NasdaqSemiconductorsFinancials to Sep 27, 2026 · Updated Nov 11, 2026

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QCOM financials
Moat score
74
ROIC
20.4%
P/E
13.7
Incl. +$5.7B one-offs
EV/EBIT
22.4
FCF yield
4.6%
Dividend yield
2.1%
Market cap
$186.3B

Moat ranks

Score rankTied #213 of 396
Durabilitymedium
Market structureOligopoly
Pricing powermoderate

Balance sheet

9/27/26
$BSep '25Sep '26
Cash5.54.6
Securities4.63.0
Restricted cash2.30.0
Debt14.815.1
Net cash-4.7-7.4
Equity21.230.4
Leverage
Debt / EBITDA
1.47×
Debt / equity
0.50×
Leases (9/27/26)
$880M
Capital
Diluted shares
1,073M
Book value / share
$28.33
Price / book
6.1×
Net cash / share
−$6.93
Market cap
$186.3B
Enterprise value
$193.7B

Per-share record

Fiscal years and TTM
Scale
$0$20$40$60'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'2540.19'26
Revenue per shareCash flow per share

Key indicators

Latest: Q4 '26
IndicatorLatestVs year agoLast 8 quarters
Revenue growth-8.4%-18.4 pts
Operating margin13.1%-12.8 pts
FCF margin17.7%-14.2 pts
Capex / revenue8.9%+5.3 pts
Handset revenue$5.1B-26%
Automotive revenue$2.0B+89%
IoT revenue$1.9B+5%
QTL licensing revenue$1.3B-8%
QTL earnings-before-tax margin70.0%–

Margins and growth from reported quarters; company KPIs as reported in results releases.

About QCOM

Qualcomm designs processors, modems and connectivity chips and licenses cellular patents. In FY2025, handset chips supplied about 63% of revenue; licensing supplied about 13%.

Revenue mix
Handset chipsets (Snapdragon platforms) 55.8%IoT silicon (consumer, industrial, edge networking) 16.5%Automotive silicon (connectivity, digital cockpit, ADAS/AD) 13.9%Wireless technology licensing (cellular SEPs, royalties) 12.9%
  • Keystone Component

    Snapdragon combines compute and connectivity that handset makers need to qualify together.

  • Capex Knowhow Scale

    Qualcomm can reuse modem, radio and low-power computing expertise funded by $9.0 billion of FY2025 research spending.

  • Design In Qualification

    Automotive programs have long validation and qualification cycles; design wins translate into multi-year shipment ramps tied to vehicle launches.

  • Scope Economies

    Qualcomm reuses compute and connectivity technology across phones, vehicles, PCs and connected industrial devices.

Timeline
  1. Oct 13, 2026

    A jury found Arm breached deliverable obligations and interfered with a customer relationship, but rejected one Qualcomm technology-license claim. Bench remedies remain undecided, and the older Arm appeal heard October 21 remains pending. Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/804328/000080432826000128/qcom-20260927.htm (2026-11-04).

  2. Oct 5, 2026

    Qualcomm and Arm began their separate contract trial, putting disputed license obligations and potential royalty relief before a jury.

  3. Sep 30, 2026

    The Federal Circuit dismissed the ParkerVision appeal for lack of a final judgment; unresolved transmitter patent claims keep the underlying dispute open.

  4. Sep 22, 2026

    Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Extreme Gen 6 at Snapdragon Summit, extending its premium handset platform range; adoption and pricing will determine the return.

  5. Sep 8, 2026

    Qualcomm and Amazon announced a multi-generation custom inference-silicon and optical-connectivity collaboration, creating a data-center route without disclosed revenue commitments.

Ownership

To 10/8/26
CEO
Cristiano R. Amon
Since 2021 · 5 yrs
Professional CEOSingle share class
Insider trades50
Planned sales27

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Financial record

Fiscal year2017201820192020202120222023202420252026TrendChange 2017–26
Per share ($)
Revenue14.9415.4619.9020.4829.2138.8731.8134.4840.0840.19+11.6%/yr
Cash flow3.362.675.975.069.178.0010.0310.8012.6810.39+13.4%/yr
Earnings1.64-3.393.604.527.8711.426.528.955.0112.70+25.5%/yr
Free cash flow2.892.145.253.847.536.018.759.8811.608.06+12.1%/yr
Capex0.460.540.731.221.641.991.290.921.082.32+19.6%/yr
Dividends2.182.372.432.512.622.823.073.263.443.59+5.7%/yr
Book value20.620.554.025.298.6615.8419.1723.2519.1928.33+3.6%/yr
Diluted shares (M)1,4901,4631,2201,1491,1491,1371,1261,1301,1051,073-3.6%/yr
Totals ($B)
Revenue22.322.624.323.533.644.235.839.044.343.1+7.6%/yr
Operating income2.60.67.76.39.815.97.810.112.48.7+14.4%/yr
Net income2.4-5.04.45.29.013.07.310.15.513.6+21.0%/yr
Free cash flow4.33.16.44.48.66.89.811.212.88.7+8.0%/yr
Buybacks1.322.61.82.53.43.13.04.18.87.8+21.6%/yr
Dividends3.33.53.02.93.03.23.53.73.83.9+1.9%/yr
Net cash17.7-3.2-3.1-4.0-2.8-8.3-4.0-1.3-4.7-7.4−$25.1B
Margins & returns (%)
Gross margin56.054.764.660.757.557.855.756.255.453.1-2.9 pts
Operating margin11.62.731.626.629.235.921.725.827.920.1+8.5 pts
Net margin11.0-22.018.122.126.929.420.525.912.531.6+20.6 pts
FCF margin19.413.826.418.725.815.527.528.628.920.1+0.7 pts
ROIC16.113.684.855.468.453.927.232.642.720.4+4.3 pts
Return on equity8.0–89.385.590.972.134.038.526.144.8+36.9 pts
R&D % of revenue24.624.922.225.421.418.524.622.820.423.7-1.0 pts
Stock pay % of revenue4.13.94.35.25.04.76.96.86.38.0+3.9 pts
Capex % of revenue3.13.53.76.05.65.14.02.72.75.8+2.7 pts

Change uses 2017 and 2026 only: compound annual growth for amounts, points for margins and returns, and the change in amount for net cash. A dash means no 2017 base. Trend shows the fiscal years.

Per-share values use diluted weighted shares.ROIC = operating income × (1 − 10.6% tax rate, the company's own over three fiscal years excluding one-offs) ÷ (equity + debt − cash and current securities). Returns show a dash when their base is negative or under 10% of revenue. Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capex. Debt is all borrowings; net cash counts long-term securities and excludes leases. No trailing-twelve-month column: no complete four quarters end after the last fiscal year.

Moat

Moat scorecard

Moat score74
Strength
Confidence
Structure
Oligopoly
Durability
medium
Trajectory
narrowing
Pricing power
moderate
Segments
  • Handset chipsets (Snapdragon platforms)55.8%
    2 claims
  • Automotive silicon (connectivity, digital cockpit, ADAS/AD)13.9%
    1 claim
  • IoT silicon (consumer, industrial, edge networking)16.5%
    1 claim
  • Wireless technology licensing (cellular SEPs, royalties)12.9%
    2 claims

Moat claims

Applies to
Handset chipsets (Snapdragon platforms)
Confidence
Durability
medium
Trajectory
narrowingas of Sep 27, 2026
Why it holds

Snapdragon combines compute and connectivity that handset makers need to qualify together. Premium Android designs reward integration, but customers can switch suppliers for a new generation and Apple is developing its own modems.

Why narrowing

Q4 handset revenue fell 26% to $5.137 billion and FY2026 handset revenue fell 13%. Apple customer silicon and competition constrain qualification-based protection.

Indicators
  • Handset revenue$5.1B-26%
  • Smartphone AP-SoC shipment share23.0%-3.0 pts
Risks
  • OEM vertical integration of application processors and modems
  • Aggressive competition (MediaTek, in-house silicon at large OEMs)
  • Smartphone unit stagnation or down-cycles

Profile change log

  1. Nov 11, 2026 · business change

    A jury found Arm breached deliverable obligations and interfered with a customer relationship, but rejected one Qualcomm technology-license claim. Bench remedies remain undecided, and the older Arm appeal heard October 21 remains pending. Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/804328/000080432826000128/qcom-20260927.htm (2026-11-04).

  2. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    Veoneer completed the sale of its Active Safety business to Magna, leaving Qualcomm focused on Arriver driving technology and the remaining divestiture process.

  3. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    Qualcomm and Arm began their separate contract trial, putting disputed license obligations and potential royalty relief before a jury.

  4. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    The Federal Circuit dismissed the ParkerVision appeal for lack of a final judgment; unresolved transmitter patent claims keep the underlying dispute open.

  5. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    Qualcomm and Amazon announced a multi-generation custom inference-silicon and optical-connectivity collaboration, creating a data-center route without disclosed revenue commitments.

  6. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    Qualcomm bought Modular at an approximate $3.1 billion value, primarily with 18 million common shares, adding an AI software layer across hardware architectures.

  7. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    Qualcomm bought Alphawave for $2.3 billion, adding wired connectivity technology for its data-center expansion.

  8. Oct 8, 2026 · analyst revision

    Added sourced moat directions, business debate, management and end-market links. Corrected Modular closing from its July 29 announcement date to July 28.

  9. Oct 8, 2026 · analyst revision

    Corrected Q1 2026 smartphone chipset shipment share from 23% to 22%, added the Q2 23% share, and changed segment weights from interim QCT-plus-QTL revenue to FY2025 group revenue.

  10. Oct 8, 2026 · business change

    Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Extreme Gen 6 at Snapdragon Summit, extending its premium handset platform range; adoption and pricing will determine the return.

Industry & peers

Peer map

0%10%20%30%40%50%60708090100Moat scoreIndustry medianQCOMAAPL

Hover a point for its values; click a peer to compare. Dashed lines: industry medians.

Global smartphone application processors and SoCs

As of Oct 8, 2026
OligopolyHigh cyclicality

Application processors and integrated systems-on-chip shipped for smartphones worldwide, including vendor and handset-maker captive designs. Excludes complete phones, stand-alone modems and radio-frequency components.

MediaTek 31.0%Qualcomm 23.0%Apple 19.0%UNISOC 13.0%SamsungHiSiliconOthers 0%
2026 shares · Counterpoint reported global smartphone AP-SoC unit shipment shares, Q2 2026
StocksMoatGross m.Op. m.
QCOM7453.1%20.1%
Industry median137553.7%20.1%
Sector median777564.7%23.8%
All stocks median3987653.1%20.0%

Moat medians cover every stock. Margin medians count only stocks with collected numbers and need at least three.

Drivers & risks

Demand drivers
  • Premium devices and local AI increase compute and memory needs, supporting higher chip content per phone.
  • Replacement cycles, household income and financing costs strongly affect unit demand.
  • OEM inventory and memory availability have a strong near-term effect on chip orders.
  • Low-power compute, modem integration and software support help vendors win each phone generation.
Risks
  • Captive chips at Apple, Samsung and Huawei reduce the merchant market and can replace established vendors.
  • Memory shortages and rising prices cut low-end demand and can reduce orders even for premium chips.
  • Foundry, packaging and wafer cost increases may outpace price rises.
  • China concentration, export restrictions and tariffs can change market access and OEM sourcing; currency weakness makes imported phones less affordable.

Bulls & bears

Key question · as of Nov 11, 2026

Can automotive, connected-device and data-center profits grow fast enough to offset weaker handset demand and customer-owned chips without eroding licensing returns?

Arguments

4 forFaded: weakening or settled4 against

What to watch

  1. 1Handset revenue and worldwide smartphone AP-SoC shipment share
  2. 2Automotive and IoT revenue with QCT pretax margin
  3. 3QTL revenue, reported pretax margin and major license renewals

Next check: FY2027 Q1 results and Data Center revenue conversion. Monitor Arm bench remedies and the pending appeal after the October jury findings, higher input-cost pricing, and renewed QTL licenses. The next results date is not confirmed.

Sources: company filings and dated sources collected for Find My Moat; market cap as of Nov 10, 2026. Not investment advice.

Cite or reuse this data

Free to reuse, commercially too, with a credit link. See the data license.

Moat Score 74/100 by <a href="https://www.findmymoat.com/stocks/XNAS:QCOM">Find My Moat</a> (as of September 2026)

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