Qualcomm posts its third-quarter fiscal performance for 2020

Qualcomm has detailed its 3FQ2020 results, which involve nearly $4.9 billion in takings. This figure is in fact dwarfed by the $9.6 billion figure from 3FQ2019; however, the company asserts that this figure, arrived at via generally-accepted accounting practices (GAAP), incorporates a considerable outlier derived from a recent settlement with Apple and its manufacturing partners.

When corrected for this, Qualcomm's year-on-year (YoY) fiscal performance is more or less flat, in truth. However, this is in keeping with the impact of Covid-19 and its effect on supply-chains and commerce in the electronics industry.

To this end, the OEM's licensing arm QTL's takings were down 19% compared to 3FQ2019, while its pre-tax earnings were down 28% YoY.

Qualcomm also found its MSM platform shipments fell by 17% YoY. However, the division responsible for them (QCT) did manage to see corresponding gains of 7% and 20% in terms of revenues and earnings before tax respectively.

The company has also announced that it has managed to re-negotiate its global patent license agreement with Huawei, as well as a "cross license for back rights" to some of that company's patents.

This achievement, which now covers sales from January 1, 2020 onward, has resulted in 4FQ2020 projections that are optimistic enough. They include conservative estimates of revenues in the $6 billion region, as well as earnings of up to $1.25 per share for the quarter.