QUALCOMM reported Q4 revenues of $1.1 billion, up 28 percent year-over-year and down 17 percent sequentially. Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 grew $247 million compared to Q4 2003, including a $343 million increase in QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies (QCT) segment revenues and a $91 million decrease in QUALCOMM Technology Licensing (QTL) segment revenues, including the effect of the change in method of accruing estimated earned royalties in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 partially offset by increases in royalties reported by licensees. Q4 diluted earnings per share were $0.23, up 28 percent year-over-year and down 21 percent sequentially.
During Q4, Qualcomm sold approximately 39 million Mobile Station Modem phone chips, compared to 20 million in Q4 of fiscal 2003. Qualcomm licensees reported CDMA phone sales for Q4 of fiscal 2004 of approximately 41 million units at an average selling price of $211, compared to 23 million units reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003 at an average selling price of $193.
For most of this year, there has been insufficient channel inventory of Qualcomm’s MSMs and CDMA phones, as demand continued to increase throughout the fiscal year. The company said it now believes that the CDMA channel has come back into better balance, due in part to the recent temporary slowdown of the South Korean market. As a result, unit shipments in the fourth fiscal quarter were lower than its prior estimate of 46 million units. The company now anticipates that 48-52 million CDMA phones will be shipped in the December quarter.
Based on the current business outlook, Qualcomm estimates the CDMA phone market will total approximately 218-228 million new unit shipments in calendar 2005. Based on the 223 million unit midpoint of this estimate, the company anticipate shipments of approximately 168 million CDMA2000 units and approximately 55 million WCDMA units. It anticipates average selling prices for CDMA phones, CDMA2000 and WCDMA combined, to increase 5 percent in fiscal 2005 to approximately $215, compared to approximately $205 in fiscal 2004. http://www.qualcomm.com
