Qualcomm has hiked its 1Q10 guidance after unexpectedly high demand for chips and licenses, prompting a 5% spike in its Nasdaq stock.
The company expects quarterly sales to be $2.55-$2.65 billion (€1.91-€1.98 billion) compared to the previous guidance of $2.40-$2.60 billion.
Earnings per share would be 56 to 58 cents, up from the previous 49-53 cents estimate, the company said.
This quarter it expects to ship 92-93 million units of its CDMA-based Mobile Station Modem (MSM), which are used in 3G equipment, 4% above its earlier estimate of 88-92 million units.
Chairman and CEO Paul Jacobs said: “We now project earnings per share to be well above the high end of our prior guidance driven by strength in licensing revenues and favourable volume and product mix in our chipset business.”
Qualcomm’s stock rose 4.98% $42.19, although it was off 34 cents in after-hours trading.
Bill Kreher, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis, told Bloomberg the numbers showed that “tech spending is certainly ramping up, particularly in the 3G area, and Qualcomm stands to benefit more than anyone.”