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Qualcomm (QCOM) is scheduled to report results of its fiscal fourth quarter after the market closes on November 5 with a conference call scheduled for 4:45 pm ET. What to watch for:

GUIDANCE: Along with its last report, Qualcomm guided for Q4 adjusted earnings per share of $2.75-$2.95 on revenue of $10.3B-$11.1B. At the time, analysts were expecting the company to report Q4 EPS of $2.82 on revenue of $10.61B, but those figures have since risen to $2.87 and $10.76B, respectively.

AI ANNOUNCEMENTS: Last week, Qualcomm announced the launch of its next-generation AI inference-optimized solutions for data centers: the Qualcomm AI200 and AI250 chip-based accelerator cards, and racks. "Building off the company's NPU technology leadership, these solutions offer rack-scale performance and superior memory capacity for fast generative AI inference at high performance per dollar per watt-marking a major leap forward in enabling scalable, efficient, and flexible generative AI across industries. Qualcomm AI200 introduces a purpose-built rack-level AI inference solution designed to deliver low total cost of ownership and optimized performance for large language & multimodal model inference and other AI workloads. It supports 768 GB of LPDDR per card for higher memory capacity and lower cost, enabling exceptional scale and flexibility for AI inference. The Qualcomm AI250 solution will debut with an innovative memory architecture based on near-memory computing, providing a generational leap in efficiency and performance for AI inference workloads by delivering greater than 10x higher effective memory bandwidth and much lower power consumption. This enables disaggregated AI inferencing for efficient utilization of hardware while meeting customer performance and cost requirements. Both rack solutions feature direct liquid cooling for thermal efficiency, PCIe for scale up, Ethernet for scale out, confidential computing for secure AI workloads, and a rack-level power consumption of 160 kW," the company stated.

Additionally, Qualcomm and HUMAIN announced a transformative collaboration to deploy advanced AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia ahead of the 9th edition of the Future Investment Initiative conference. This initiative will offer global AI inferencing services and be the world's first fully optimized edge-to-cloud hybrid AI. This program will position Saudi Arabia as a global hub for artificial intelligence and is a follow up of the announcement made by the two companies at the U.S. - Saudi Investment Forum in May 2025. Under the program, HUMAIN is targeting 200 megawatts starting in 2026 of Qualcomm AI200 and AI250 rack solutions to deliver high-performance AI inference services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and globally.

Following these announcements, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon noted that Qualcomm has actually sold AI accelerators for years, but the announcement of new chip and rack-scale AI datacenter products for inference, as well as a a partnership with HUMAIN in Saudi Arabia to deploy 200 MW of these racks starting in 2026, "appears to be garnering" more attention, with the stock significantly outperforming, even on a strong day for the market. The analyst, who calls it "not unreasonable" for the market to start giving Qualcomm a little bit of the benefit other have seen from the "small slice of a big pie" thesis, rates Qualcomm an Outperform.

Additionally, Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers said that, after signaling work on datacenter accelerator cards and systems-on-a-card over the past couple of quarters, Qualcomm unveiled the AI200 and AI250 chip-based accelerator cards and racks specifically targeting AI inference, with the analyst saying the rack-scale focus was "a surprise." Competition has been accelerating with Intel's (INTC) recent Crescent Island announcement, AMD's (AMD) MI platform and upcoming Helios rack-scale design, and Nvidia's (NVDA) inference focused Rubin CPX, the analyst noted. Qualcomm also announced that Saudi Arabia's Humain will deploy 200MW of Qualcomm AI systems starting in 2026, points out Wells, which estimates revenue potential for that deal in the roughly $2B range. Wells has an Underweight rating and $140 price target on Qualcomm shares.

CITI PT: Last week, Citi raised the firm's price target on Qualcomm to $175 from $170 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The company announced two products for artificial intelligence and a deal with Saudi Arabia's AI enterprise Humain to supply it with up to 200 megawatts of capacity, the analyst told investors in a research note. Citi estimates the deal represents a $1.0B in sales and 25c earnings per shared opportunity for Qualcomm. The firm attributes the stock's rally after the announcement to a "short squeeze" and doubts the company will be successful in AI given that it is "several years behind" AMD and Nvidia.

UBS PT: UBS lowered the firm's price target on Qualcomm last month to $165 from $175 and maintained a Neutral rating on the shares. December quarter results are expected to align with Street estimates, with slight upside from a production shift toward iPhone 17 Pro models using Qualcomm modems, the analyst told investors in a research note. While smartphone demand trends remain healthy, the March quarter could face headwinds as Samsung (SSNLF) increases Exynos chip use in the Galaxy S26 lineup, though Intel's positive PC commentary supports a constructive view on Qualcomm's IoT segment, UBS added.

APPLE: Apple (AAPL) is heading into one of its most pivotal years in recent memory, with the rollout of major new Apple Intelligence features, intense regulatory pressure on the App Store, and the risk of new tariffs, and the iPhone 18 Pro models will dump Qualcomm's cellular modems in favor of Apple's in-house C2 components, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported this week. Apple is also moving full steam ahead on smart glasses, with suppliers already producing small quantities overseas, and the first revamp to the MacBook Pro since 2021 could show up at the tail end of the year, with M6 Pro and M6 Max chips, Gurman said.

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