Revenue rose 29 percent year-over-year to $6.02 billion. This was good enough for a 24 percent sequential improvement. Likewise, earnings per share was impressive, arriving at $1.09 per share, up 35 percent year-over-year and 49 percent sequentially. Chip revenue rose 34 percent with no change in shipments and ASPs (average selling prices.)
There was a 22 percent increase in license revenue with a 6-percent increase in ASPs. However, the most impressive aspect was, aside from dominating chip sales, Qualcomm also made more money during the quarter. Not only did gross margins advance by 20 basis points, but it bested Street estimates by more than one point.
By contrast, Texas Instruments just posted revenue of $2.98 billion — down 12 percent sequentially and down 13 percent year-over-year. Worse, this marked the fifth consecutive quarter of declining revenue. And the company is not expecting much sequential improvement as it issued revenue guidance that represents 6-percent decline.
This means that Texas Instruments expects to continue to lose market share not only from Qualcomm, but also Intel, which seems to be on a verge of a comeback after posing fourth quarter revenue of $13.477 billion that just barely missed estimates by less than 1 percent. Considering Intel's recent seemingly dysfunctional operation, this qualified as a win.
Then again, this further highlights the dominance of Qualcomm as the company continues to confound skeptics. As noted, one of Qualcomm's advantages is that it is one of Apple's major suppliers. But, ahead of the report, there were concerns about Apple's supply chain issues.
Plus, that Apple didn't woo the Street with its first-quarter earnings results, there were many who rushed to proclaim the end of Qualcomm's stellar growth. That was not the case. The company was still able find growth while the rest of the sector suffered demand hardships.
Qualcomm continues to affirm why it has not only one of the best businesses in the entire market, but also one of the best management teams. And chip rivals such as Broadcom and Nvidia will find it increasingly challenging to make a dent in Qualcomm's business.
To that end, Qualcomm continues to reinvest heavily in research and development to ensure that its chip technology remains the top choice as Apple, Samsung, and the rest of the phone rivals battle it out. There are plenty of reasons to love this business and the stock. Not the least of which is that management raised revenue guidance — suggesting that 2013 might be an even bigger year.
The stock seems cheap at current levels. I would be adding shares until the company shows meaningful signs of slowing growth. The stock has enough momentum to reach $75 to $80 by the second half of the year — because regardless of who comes out on top in device dominance, Qualcomm wins either way.
