Jim Cramer Concerned by Recent Antitrust Allegations Against Qualcomm

South Korea's FTC is alleging wrongdoing by Qualcomm, adding to the list of recent issues popping up for the once-darling semiconductor stock, Cramer said.
By Bret Kenwell ,

Shares of Qualcomm (QCOM) - Get Report are down 8% Wednesday on allegations from the South Korea Fair Trade Commission that some of the company's intellectual-property licensing practices are illegal. 

Today's decline pushed the stock to a new 52-week low as it's now down 35% on the year.

This stock used to be a "darling that could no wrong" within the semiconductor space, TheStreet's Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, said on CNBC's "Stop Trading" segment. 


Qualcomm QCOM data by YCharts

However, the South Korea FTC antitrust allegations concern him, especially when other companies including LG (LNVGY) and Samsung (SSNLF) are located there, Cramer noted. 

In addition, Qualcomm is having trouble collecting payment from some of its Chinese customers, which is not good for business. 

Companies are starting to replace Qualcomm with suppliers including Intel (INTC) - Get Report , Texas Instruments (TXN) - Get Report and Analog Devices (ADI) - Get Report . Chip companies within the smartphone business -- like Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) - Get Report , Qorvo (QRVO) - Get Report and Avago Technologies (AVGO) - Get Report  -- have been suffering as well, Cramer concluded. 

At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had no position in companies mentioned.

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