Qualcomm Inc. stock rebounded slightly last Friday closing up $4.31 at $65.75 after shedding almost 25-percent the previous two days on analysts cutting earnings estimates for the company.
Bear Stearns analyst Wojteck Uzdelewicz cut his 2000 earnings estimates Wednesday for Qualcomm by 4 cents per share to $1.08 per share, and modified his 2001 earnings estimates for the company from $1.40 per share to $1.30, but maintained his attractive rating of the stock. The market reacted sharply to the news, sending the stock down $10.88 to a closing price of $70.50 per share.
Chase H&Q analyst Ed Snyder followed suit on Thursday, cutting his estimates on Qualcomm from $1.11 per share to $1.07 per share for this year, and from $1.49 per share to $1.27 per share for next year. The stock took another hit closing down $9.06 per share to close at $61.44 per share.
Snyder explained his revision by citing Qualcomm’s Korean sales slowdown, the hold-up of Code Division Multiple Access deployment in China and Qualcomm’s 6.4-percent stake in satellite communications service provider Globalstar, which analysts say is on the verge of running out of cash.
“I think the valuations had gotten away from the fundamentals in terms of the projections made by some of my brethren on the Street,” Snyder told TheStreet.com. “I think things are coming back into line as the fundamentals are informing the stock price.”
