Qualcomm (QCOM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

Qualcomm (QCOM) closed at $54.16 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.61% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.15% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 0%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the chipmaker had lost 15.09% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.26% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.27% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from QCOM as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 30, 2019. On that day, QCOM is projected to report earnings of $0.96 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 2.04%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.91 billion, down 19.1% from the year-ago period.

QCOM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.99 per share and revenue of $20.93 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.13% and -7.92%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for QCOM should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. QCOM currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, QCOM currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.64. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.52.

Also, we should mention that QCOM has a PEG ratio of 1.19. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Wireless Equipment industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.18 as of yesterday's close.

The Wireless Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 30, putting it in the top 12% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.