Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Trading Down 4.2% – Here’s What Happened

Posted by Brian Himes on Jul 30th, 2026

Shares of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM – Get Free Report) dropped 4.2% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $162.16 and last traded at $162.88. Approximately 15,886,316 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 16,511,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.04.

Trending Headlines about Qualcomm

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualcomm this week:

Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm secured a long-term agreement to supply BMW with computing chips for digital cockpits and advanced driver-assistance systems, supporting its automotive growth strategy through the next decade. Qualcomm wins BMW chip supply deal
Positive Sentiment: Record automotive revenue and expanding IoT activity helped Qualcomm exceed third-quarter revenue expectations. Management raised its automotive outlook to approximately $7 billion and continues targeting $40 billion in non-handset revenue by fiscal 2029. QCOM Q3 Earnings Call Highlights AI Expansion
Positive Sentiment: Qualcomm completed its all-stock acquisition of Modular, adding AI-native software infrastructure intended to strengthen its edge-to-cloud and data-center computing businesses. Qualcomm Completes Acquisition of Modular
Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed. Rosenblatt and TD Cowen maintained “buy” ratings despite lowering their price targets to $235 and $175, respectively, while UBS and Susquehanna shifted to “neutral” with targets of $170 and $160. Morgan Stanley kept an equal-weight rating with a $220 target.
Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.21 per share narrowly missed expectations, while revenue of $9.95 billion beat estimates but fell 4% year over year. Earnings declined from $2.77 per share a year earlier. Qualcomm Misses Q3 Earnings Estimates
Negative Sentiment: Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $2.05–$2.25 was below the $2.23 consensus midpoint, reflecting higher memory costs, pricing pressure and a steeper decline in Apple-related modem revenue. Analysts also warned that custom silicon could create additional competitive and margin risks. Qualcomm shares slide as higher costs cloud profit forecast

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on QCOM. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Qualcomm from $200.00 to $165.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Qualcomm from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Qualcomm from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $400.00 target price on shares of Qualcomm in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $160.00 price target on shares of Qualcomm in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $203.63.

Get Our Latest Research Report on QCOM

Qualcomm Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $201.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.94.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The wireless technology company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.69 billion. Qualcomm had a return on equity of 42.11% and a net margin of 22.31%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Qualcomm has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 2.050-2.250 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Qualcomm Incorporated will post 7.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Qualcomm Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 3rd. Qualcomm’s payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Patricia Y. Grech sold 829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.77, for a total value of $167,267.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Cristiano R. Amon sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $1,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 197,568 shares in the company, valued at $35,562,240. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,529 shares of company stock valued at $4,011,441. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Qualcomm

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QCOM. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP acquired a new stake in Qualcomm during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Qualcomm by 90.9% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 168 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Qualcomm in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Qualcomm by 17,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 171 shares of the wireless technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Qualcomm in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 74.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Qualcomm Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Qualcomm Incorporated is a global semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in San Diego, California. Founded in 1985, the company is known for its development of wireless technologies and for playing a central role in the evolution of digital cellular standards, including CDMA and subsequent generations of mobile standards. Qualcomm’s business combines the design and sale of semiconductor products with a patent licensing program for wireless technologies and related intellectual property.

The company’s product portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) platforms marketed under the Snapdragon brand, cellular modem and RF front-end components, connectivity solutions for Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth, and processors and platforms aimed at automotive, IoT, networking and edge-computing applications.