This Wasn't Qualcomm's Quarter

SAN DIEGO (TheStreet -- Qualcomm(QCOM) saw its sales slump during the fourth quarter, and the component manufacturer also missed Wall Street's profit estimate.

The chipmaker reported revenue of $2.69 billion after market close, down 19% on the same period last year, and just below analysts' estimate of $2.72 billion. Revenue, however, declined just 2% compared to the third quarter.

Qualcomm's fourth-quarter numbers included a charge of $230 million, or 14 cents a share, related to an estimated fine from the Korea Fair Trade Commission. The prior year's quarter also included $560 million in revenue from license and settlement agreements with Nokia(NOK).

Excluding items, Qualcomm earned 48 cents a share on net income of $811 million, down from 63 cents a share and $1.06 billion in the prior year's quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of 52 cents a share.

For the full year, Qualcomm's sales came in at $10.42 billion, down 7% on the prior year quarter, but roughly in line with Wall Street's expectation of $10.43 billion.

Qualcomm, despite its reputed growth potential, issued weak guidance for fiscal year 2010. The company expects sales between $10.5 billion and $11.3 billion, below Wall Street's estimate of $11.61 billion.

The wireless specialist, which competes with Broadcom(BRCM), Nokia and Texas Instruments(TXN), recently extended its license agreement with Samsung to cover both 3G and 4G.

"I am very pleased with the performance of our businesses this past year, despite a challenging and uncertain global economic environment," said Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacob in a statement. "Our revenues for fiscal year 2009 were in line with our guidance at the outset of the year."

Investors were not exactly spooked by the numbers. Qualcomm's shares rose $1.19, or 2.86%, to $42.79 in extended trading.

Rival Texas Instruments beat analysts' estimates in its own third-quarter results last month, boosted by sales of its analog products. Broadcom also beat Wall Street's expectations but warned that its sales could remain slow into 2010 during its results.

-- Reported by James Rogers in New York

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