Jim Cramer's Action Alerts Plus

Action Alerts PLUS

Action QCOM

11/24/09 - 11:05 AM EST

Legal Victory Will Help a Tech Holding

This morning, the E.U. dropped its antitrust case against Qualcomm (QCOM:Nasdaq) without levying any fines to the company. By way of background, in 2005, Ericsson, Nokia, Broadcom, NEC, Panasonic and Texas Instruments filed charges against QCOM, saying that its royalty fees were unfair, unreasonable and excessive -- naturally, QCOM denied all charges.

The announcement removes an overhang in the stock, although it shouldn't be too surprising, especially after QCOM negotiated separate deals with Nokia and Broadcom over the past year: QCOM/Nokia entered into a new 3G/4G contract last summer, and QCOM/Broadcom announced a multiyear patent agreement in April. Both companies dropped their complaints as a result of their new arrangements with QCOM, so the case was much weaker as a result.

Today, Ericsson withdrew its complaint, and word is that the remaining companies will do the same; this is what prompted the E.U. to drop its case. So the announcement today removes one uncertainty and will lower QCOM's legal costs; this could add a penny or two to fiscal 2010 earnings.

My long-term thinking hasn't changed for QCOM, and it remains one of the best-positioned stories for 2010 as consumer demand picks up (-7% in 2009 vs. expected 8%-10% in 2010) and as more technology gets added to the smartphone (which will lead to higher royalty rates and market share for QCOM).

That said, I recently bought shares at $41, and if the stock recovers to the upper $40s, I will likely trim into strength and take some profits. My long-term target, however, is low $50s, or 20 times earnings (still below its long-term 22 times average).

Regards,

Jim Cramer

Click here to trade alongside Cramer!

DISCLOSURE: At the time of publication, Cramer was long QCOM.

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James J. Cramer is a Markets Commentator for TheStreet.com and CNBC, as well as director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. TheStreet.com is a publisher and a registered investment adviser. The Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio (the "Portfolio") contains all of Mr. Cramer's personal investments in publicly-traded equity securities only, and does not include any mutual fund holdings or other institutionally managed assets, private equity investments, or his holdings in TheStreet.com, Inc. In March 2005, these investments were irrevocably conveyed to a Trust, the realized profits from which have been pledged to charity. Mr. Cramer retains full investment discretion with respect to all securities contained in the Trust. Results take into account dividends paid, interest earned on cash, and actual commissions paid. Trades in the Portfolio are generally executed upon receipt of confirmation that the Action Alert email containing the report of such trade has been sent to all Action Alerts PLUS subscribers. Results obtained by subscribers may differ from results obtained by Mr. Cramer for many reasons, including, without limitation: (i) the large size of the Portfolio and the high volume of shares traded by Mr. Cramer tend to reduce the effect of commissions on the overall return of the Portfolio relative to the generally smaller portfolios of subscribers, (ii) the prices of stocks in the Portfolio at the point in time subscribers begin subscribing to Action Alerts PLUS may be higher than such prices at the time of Mr. Cramer's purchases of them, and (iii) subscribers may not have the capital to trade as frequently as Mr. Cramer. Additionally, Mr. Cramer is subject to certain trading restrictions, and must hold all securities in the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio for at least one month, and is not permitted to buy or sell any security he has spoken about on television or on his radio program, for five days following the broadcast.

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