Qualcomm Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2014 Results

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, today announced results for the fiscal fourth quarter and year ended September 28, 2014.

"We are pleased to report another year of record financial performance as our 3G/4G LTE multimode and other advanced technologies continue to enable the growth of wireless data around the world, driven by our broad chipset roadmap," said Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "We are forecasting continued growth of global 3G/4G device shipments in calendar year 2015, particularly in emerging regions. Our fiscal 2015 outlook reflects continued LTE leadership in our semiconductor business and is tempered by the issues we are facing in China related to our licensing business. Through this time, we remain focused on building our technology leadership in smartphones, while pursuing opportunities to extend our solutions into adjacent areas."

GAAP Results

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2014*

• Revenues: ¹ $6.69 billion, up 3 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) and down 2 percent sequentially.
• Operating income: ¹ $1.99 billion, up 25 percent y-o-y and down 4 percent sequentially.
• Net income: ² $1.89 billion, up 26 percent y-o-y and down 15 percent sequentially.
• Diluted earnings per share: ² $1.11, up 29 percent y-o-y and down 15 percent sequentially.
• Effective tax rate: ¹ 16 percent.
• Operating cash flow: $1.62 billion, down 36 percent y-o-y; 24 percent of revenues.
• Return of capital to stockholders: $1.90 billion, including $1.20 billion through repurchases of 15.6 million shares of common stock and $702 million, or $0.42 per share, of cash dividends paid.

¹ Throughout this news release, revenues, operating expenses, operating income, earnings before tax (EBT) and effective tax rates are from continuing operations (i.e., before adjustments for noncontrolling interests and discontinued operations), unless otherwise stated.

² Throughout this news release, net income and diluted earnings per share are attributable to Qualcomm (i.e., after adjustments for noncontrolling interests and discontinued operations), unless otherwise stated.

Fiscal 2014*

• Revenues: $26.49 billion, up 7 percent y-o-y.
• Operating income: $7.55 billion, up 4 percent y-o-y.
• Net income: $7.97 billion, up 16 percent y-o-y.
• Diluted earnings per share: $4.65, up 19 percent y-o-y.
• Effective tax rate: 14 percent.
• Operating cash flow: $8.89 billion, up 1 percent y-o-y; 34 percent of revenues.
• Return of capital to stockholders: $7.13 billion, including $4.55 billion through repurchases of 60.3 million shares of common stock and $2.59 billion, or $1.54 per share, of cash dividends paid.

Non-GAAP Results

Non-GAAP results exclude the QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) segment and certain share-based compensation, acquisition-related items and tax items.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2014*

• Revenues: $6.69 billion, up 3 percent y-o-y and down 2 percent sequentially.
• Operating income: $2.32 billion, up 20 percent y-o-y and down 4 percent sequentially.
• Net income: $2.14 billion, up 18 percent y-o-y and down 13 percent sequentially.
• Diluted earnings per share: $1.26, up 20 percent y-o-y and down 13 percent sequentially.
• Effective tax rate: 16 percent.

Fiscal 2014*

• Revenues: $26.49 billion, up 7 percent y-o-y.
• Operating income: $8.93 billion, up 3 percent y-o-y.
• Net income: $9.03 billion, up 14 percent y-o-y.
• Diluted earnings per share: $5.27, up 17 percent y-o-y.
• Effective tax rate: 15 percent.

Detailed reconciliations between GAAP and Non-GAAP results are included within this news release.

* The following should be considered in regards to the year-over-year and sequential comparisons:

• The fiscal 2014 results included:
  • $665 million gain, or $0.25 per share, in discontinued operations associated with the sale of substantially all of the operations of our Omnitracs division in the first quarter of fiscal 2014;
  • $444 million charge, or $0.20 per share, that resulted from an impairment on long-lived assets related to our QMT (Qualcomm MEMS Technologies) division in the first quarter of fiscal 2014;
  • $208 million of income, or $0.12 per share, due to the reversal of expense accruals related to our litigation with ParkerVision in the third quarter of fiscal 2014; and
  • $164 million of charges, or $0.08 per share, that resulted from an impairment on goodwill and long-lived assets related to our QMT division in the third quarter of fiscal 2014.
• The fiscal 2013 results included:
  • $158 million charge, or $0.06 per share, that resulted from an impairment on long-lived assets related to our QMT division in the third quarter of fiscal 2013; and
  • $173 million charge, or $0.10 per share, related to the verdict in our litigation with ParkerVision in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.

Key Business Metrics

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2014

• MSM™ chip shipments: 236 million units, up 24 percent y-o-y and 5 percent sequentially.
• June quarter total reported device sales: approximately $57.4 billion, down 5 percent y-o-y and 1 percent sequentially.
  • Includes an estimated 256 to 260 million 3G/4G devices at an estimated average selling price of approximately $220 to $226 per unit.

Fiscal 2014

• MSM chip shipments: 861 million units, up 20 percent y-o-y.
• Total reported device sales (September quarter through June quarter): approximately $243.6 billion, up 5 percent y-o-y.
  • Includes an estimated 1,077 to 1,093 million 3G/4G devices at an estimated average selling price of approximately $222 to $228 per unit.

Cash and Marketable Securities

Our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $32.0 billion at the end of fiscal 2014, compared to $29.4 billion a year ago and $32.7 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2014. On October 16, 2014, we announced a cash dividend of $0.42 per share payable on December 18, 2014 to stockholders of record as of December 1, 2014. Since September 28, 2014, we repurchased and retired an additional 8.6 million shares of common stock for $638 million.

In October 2014, we announced an agreement with CSR plc on the terms of a recommended cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of CSR for £9.00 per ordinary share, which values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of CSR at approximately £1.6 billion (approximately $2.5 billion based upon an exchange rate of USD: GBP 1.6057). The transaction is expected to close by the end of summer 2015, subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions, including receipt of United States and other regulatory approvals and the approval of CSR's shareholders.

Research and Development

Non-GAAP research and development (R&D) expenses increased 1 percent y-o-y. R&D expenses primarily consisted of costs related to the development of CDMA-based 3G, OFDMA-based 4G LTE and other technologies for integrated circuit and related software products and to expand our intellectual property portfolio.

Selling, General and Administrative

Non-GAAP selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses decreased 16 percent y-o-y primarily due to decreases in selling and marketing expenses, employee-related expenses and litigation and other legal matters.

Effective Income Tax Rates

Our fiscal 2014 annual effective income tax rates were 14 percent for GAAP and 15 percent for Non-GAAP, both of which included the United States federal R&D tax credit generated through December 31, 2013, the date on which the credit expired. The fiscal 2014 GAAP effective tax rate included a tax benefit of $66 million related to an agreement reached with the Internal Revenue Service on components of our fiscal 2013 tax return. This benefit was excluded from our Non-GAAP results.

Business Outlook

The following statements are forward looking, and actual results may differ materially. The "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in this news release provides a description of certain risks that we face, and our most recent annual report on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provides a more complete description of risks.

Our outlook does not include provisions for future asset impairments or for pending legal matters, other than future legal amounts that are probable and estimable. Further, due to their nature, certain income and expense items, such as realized investment and certain derivative gains or losses, cannot be accurately forecast. Accordingly, we only include such items in our financial outlook to the extent they are reasonably certain; however, actual results may differ materially from the outlook.

Our outlook for fiscal 2015 diluted earnings per share includes an estimate of the benefit related to stock repurchases that we plan to complete over the course of fiscal 2015 under our current stock repurchase program.

China continues to present significant opportunities for us, particularly with the rollout of 3G/4G LTE multimode, but also presents significant challenges, as our business practices continue to be the subject of an investigation by the China National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 28, 2014 filed with the SEC for our most recent disclosures regarding the NDRC investigation.

We also believe that certain licensees in China currently are not fully complying with their contractual obligations to report their sales of licensed products to us (which includes certain licensees underreporting a portion of their 3G/4G device sales and a dispute with a licensee) and that unlicensed companies may seek to delay execution of new licenses while the NDRC investigation is ongoing. We expect calendar year 2014 and 2015 global 3G/4G device shipments to be approximately 1.3 billion and 1.5 billion, respectively. However, our estimate of calendar year 2014 3G/4G device shipments that we currently expect to be reported to us is approximately 1.04 billion to 1.13 billion, which is adjusted for units that we believe may not be reported to us, are in dispute or are currently unlicensed. We have not provided a forecast for calendar year 2015 reported 3G/4G device shipments at this time. We are providing a guidance range for estimated 3G/4G total reported device sales that we currently expect to be reported to us in our fiscal 2015 (for sales by licensees in the September quarter of calendar 2014 through the June quarter of calendar 2015), which does not include sales that we believe may not be reported to us or may be in dispute but does include an estimate for some prior period activity that may be reported to us during fiscal 2015. We are taking steps to address these issues, although the outcome and timing of any resolutions are uncertain.

We have not included any estimates related to the proposed acquisition of CSR plc in our fiscal 2015 outlook. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the summer of 2015. We expect the acquisition to be accretive to Non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2016, the first full year of combined operations.

The following table summarizes GAAP and Non-GAAP guidance based on the current outlook. The Non-GAAP outlook presented below is consistent with the presentation of Non-GAAP results included elsewhere herein.

Results of Business Segments

Conference Call

Qualcomm's fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal 2014 earnings conference call will be broadcast live on November 5, 2014, beginning at 1:45 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) at http://investor.qualcomm.com/events.cfm. This conference call will include a discussion of "Non-GAAP financial measures" as defined in Regulation G. The most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and information reconciling these Non-GAAP financial measures to the Company's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP, as well as other financial and statistical information to be discussed on the conference call, will be posted at www.qualcomm.com/investor immediately prior to commencement of the call. An audio replay will be available at http://investor.qualcomm.com/events.cfm and via telephone following the live call for 30 days thereafter. To listen to the replay via telephone, U.S. callers may dial (855) 859-2056 and international callers may dial +1-404-537-3406. Callers should use reservation number 20823606.

Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Non-GAAP financial information presented herein should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. In addition, "Non-GAAP" is not a term defined by GAAP, and as a result, the Company's measure of Non-GAAP results might be different than similarly titled measures used by other companies. Reconciliations between GAAP and Non-GAAP results are presented herein.

The Company uses Non-GAAP financial information (i) to evaluate, assess and benchmark the Company's operating results on a consistent and comparable basis; (ii) to measure the performance and efficiency of the Company's ongoing core operating businesses, including the QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) and QTL (Qualcomm Technology Licensing) segments; and (iii) to compare the performance and efficiency of these segments against each other and against competitors. Non-GAAP measurements used by the Company include revenues, cost of equipment and services revenues, R&D expenses, SG&A expenses, operating income, net investment income, income or earnings before income taxes, effective tax rate, net income and diluted earnings per share. The Company is able to assess what it believes is a more meaningful and comparable set of financial performance measures for the Company and its business segments by using Non-GAAP information. As a result, management compensation decisions and the review of executive compensation by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors focus primarily on Non-GAAP financial measures applicable to the Company and its business segments. The Company presents Non-GAAP financial information to provide greater transparency to investors with respect to its use of such information in financial and operational decision-making.

Non-GAAP information used by management excludes QSI and certain share-based compensation, acquisition-related items and tax items.

• QSI is excluded because the Company expects to exit its strategic investments at various times, and the effects of fluctuations in the value of such investments and realized gains or losses are viewed by management as unrelated to the Company's operational performance.
• Share-based compensation expense primarily relates to restricted stock units. Non-cash share-based compensation is excluded because management views such expenses as unrelated to the operating activities of the Company's ongoing core businesses.
• Acquisition-related items include amortization and impairment of certain intangible assets, recognition of the step-up of inventories to fair value and the related tax effects of these items starting with acquisitions completed in the third quarter of fiscal 2011, as well as any tax effects from restructuring the ownership of such acquired assets. Additionally, the Company excludes expenses related to the termination of contracts that limit the use of the acquired intellectual property. These acquisition-related items are excluded and are not allocated to the Company's segments because management views such expenses as unrelated to the operating activities of the Company's ongoing core businesses. In addition, these charges are impacted by the size and timing of acquisitions, potentially obscuring period-to-period comparisons of the Company's operating businesses.
• Certain tax items that are unrelated to the fiscal year in which they are recorded are excluded in order to provide a clearer understanding of the Company's ongoing Non-GAAP tax rate and after tax earnings.

About Qualcomm

Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) is a world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm's licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm's engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit www.qualcomm.com.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to statements regarding: our forecast of continued growth of global 3G/4G device shipments in calendar 2015, particularly in emerging regions; continued LTE leadership in our semiconductor business; our continued focus on building technology leadership in smartphones while pursuing opportunities in adjacent areas; stock repurchases that we plan to complete during fiscal 2015 under our stock repurchase program; challenges to our business in China; our proposed acquisition of CSR plc, including the expected timing and financial impact of the acquisition and our ability to complete the acquisition considering the various closing conditions; our business outlook; and our estimates and guidance related to revenues, GAAP and Non-GAAP operating income, GAAP and Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, MSM chip shipments, total reported device sales and global 3G/4G device shipments and reported 3G/4G device shipment ranges. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by words such as "estimates," "guidance," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks" and similar expressions. Actual results may differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors, including but not limited to: risks associated with commercial network deployments, expansions and upgrades of CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, our customers' and licensees' sales of products and services based on these technologies and our ability to drive our customers' demand for our products and services; competition in an environment of rapid technological change; our dependence on a small number of customers and licensees; the continued and future success of our licensing programs; attacks on our licensing business model, including current and future legal proceedings or actions of governmental or quasi-governmental bodies or standards or industry organizations; the enforcement and protection of our intellectual property rights; government regulations and policies, or adverse rulings in enforcement or other proceedings; the commercial success of our new technologies, products and services; claims by third parties that we infringe their intellectual property; acquisitions, strategic transactions and investments; our dependence on a limited number of third-party suppliers; our stock price and earnings volatility; our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; global economic conditions that impact the mobile communications industry; foreign currency fluctuations; failures in our products or services or in the products or services of our customers or licensees, including those resulting from security vulnerabilities, defects or errors; and the possibility that the CSR acquisition may not be timely completed, if at all. These and other risks are set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2014 filed with the SEC. Our reports filed with the SEC are available on our website at www.qualcomm.com. We undertake no obligation to update, or continue to provide information with respect to, any forward-looking statement or risk factor, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Qualcomm and MSM are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Qualcomm Contact: 
Warren Kneeshaw 
Vice President, Investor Relations 
Phone: +1-858-658-4813 
e-mail: ir@qualcomm.com