Should You Buy Qualcomm Stock Now Or Wait?

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Qualcomm (QCOM) shares closed 37% below their highest close of the past year on November 5, 2026. Investors buying at this price appear to be betting that Qualcomm’s chips for cars and data centers can make up for losing Apple as a customer. Following the decline, the stock looks cheap based on its earnings, but a single quarter generated more than half of that profit. So has the fall made Qualcomm cheap, or is buying now still early?

On Cash Flow, Qualcomm Stock Is Not Cheap Yet

Measured by the cash the business generates, Qualcomm costs about the same as the broader market. The stock trades at 15.0 times operating cash flow, compared with 15.1 for the S&P 500. Its price-to-earnings ratio of 12.2 looks far lower than the index’s 22.3. However, Qualcomm reported a $7.37 billion profit on $2.31 billion of operating income in fiscal Q2 2026, making cash the fairer guide.

Compared to its own history, the stock carried a high valuation relative to its underlying margin. Qualcomm traded at 4.5 times sales at the end of September. That multiple sat higher than it did at three in four quarter ends since fiscal 2017, yet the operating margin was lower than it was at most quarter ends during that span. The multiple has since come down to 3.9 times sales.

That margin is still falling. Qualcomm’s quarterly operating margin dropped for three consecutive quarters, declining from 27.5% in fiscal Q1 2026 to 13.1% in fiscal Q4. Management said its phone chip sales reflected the effect of memory chip prices on the smartphone market, and it expects its own price increases to show in full in chip gross margins only in the second half of fiscal 2027.

What Qualcomm Has Promised Beyond Phones

For the December quarter, which is fiscal Q1 2027, Qualcomm guided revenue of $10.4 billion to $11.2 billion. The average analyst estimate of about $10.7 billion sits inside that range, signaling that analysts expect the company to land within its own guide rather than above it. Management also said it does not expect December to be its strongest quarter this time, as revenue from Apple products winds down.

The growth the share price appears to assume comes from outside phones. Qualcomm’s chip sales outside phones, to carmakers and makers of connected devices, grew 36% from a year earlier in fiscal Q4 2026. Management expects those sales, which now include data center chips, to grow by more than 60% from a year earlier. That expansion is expected to start in fiscal Q1 2027, the quarter in which shipments of custom silicon to two large cloud customers begin.

When Qualcomm Shows Its December Quarter

Qualcomm is expected to report its fiscal Q1 2027 results in February 2027. The stock has moved both ways after past reports. After five of its six reports from April 2025 to July 2026, shares fell by between 4.9% and 7.8% over the next two trading days. The single rise was larger: 13.5% after the April 2026 report. Following the latest report on November 4, 2026, shares fell 9.5% on November 5. The broader market also fell that day, with the S&P 500 ETF down 4.4%.

If December quarter revenue lands below the $10.4 billion bottom of the guide, or if sales outside phones grow less than the 60% management expects, buying now would prove early. Revenue landing inside the range, where the $10.7 billion analyst estimate sits, would leave the choice open. If revenue beats the $11.2 billion top of the guide with that growth in hand, waiting for February would mean buying only after the shares have moved on the result.

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