Why Qualcomm Might Be Poised to Pull Back
While Fools should generally take the opinion of Wall Street with a grain of salt, it's not a bad idea to take a closer look at particularly stock-shaking analyst upgrades and downgrades -- just in case their reasoning behind the call makes sense.
What: Shares of Qualcomm slipped as much as 2.5% today after Bank of America downgraded the chipmaker from buy to neutral.
So what: Along with the downgrade, analyst Tal Liani reaffirmed his $75 price target, representing about 10% worth of upside to Friday's close. Qualcomm shares have rallied nicely in recent months on solid sales growth, but Liani thinks that weakness in the smartphone space could serve as a significant headwind for the company going forward.
Now what: Over the next two years, BofA expects Qualcomm's quarterly revenue growth to decline from 29% to 6%, and earnings per share to drop from 22% to 2%. "Our handset model, updated this morning, is pointing to a sharp deceleration in the Smartphone market value growth from 32% in 2013 to 10% in 2015, with a profound impact on royalty revenue growth and even a greater impact on EPS," cautioned BofA. Of course, when you consider Qualcomm's rock-solid financial and competitive position, patient investors might want to look at the recent pullback as a potential long-term entry point.
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The article Why Qualcomm Might Be Poised to Pull Back originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns shares of Bank of America. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America and Qualcomm. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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