Qualcomm is due to report second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on April 29, with investors watching whether the chipmaker can keep its smartphone business from dragging on results. JPMorgan lowered Qcom stock to Neutral from Overweight and cut its price target to $140 from $185, citing concern that QCT handsets revenue could fall 22% in 2026.
The call lands after a strong fiscal 2026 start. Qualcomm said revenue rose 5% year over year to $12.2 billion and earnings increased 3% to $3.5 per share, helped by $10.6 billion in QCT revenue. Handset chips made up 73% of that total, while automotive sales reached $1.1 billion, up 15%, and IoT revenue rose 9% to $1.7 billion. Qualcomm also reported $1.6 billion in QLT revenue, completed the acquisition of Alphawave Semi and bought Ventana Micro Systems.
Qualcomm designs chips and software for smartphones, cars, computers and connected devices, but it still leans heavily on phones. That dependence matters now because the smartphone cycle is slowing, OEMs are cutting inventory and production, especially in China, and a memory crunch tied to AI data center demand is adding pressure to handset output. Qualcomm has been trying to offset that risk by pushing harder into automotive and IoT, though those businesses are still smaller than its core phone franchise.
For the April 29 report, Qualcomm said it expects second-quarter revenue between $10.2 billion and $11 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.45 to $2.65. The question for investors is whether that range proves resilient enough to calm worries about handsets, or whether the next leg of growth still has to come from businesses that have not yet caught up to the scale of phones.
