Analysts at HSBC highlighted one chipmaker they see topping analyst consensus earnings estimates when it reports on May 1.
The bank said they expect Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) to post above-consensus Q2FY24 results and possible upside to third-quarter guidance given the high-end smartphone mix.
"We expect Q2FY24 (March quarter) revenue of USD9.6bn vs consensus estimate of USD9.3bn, towards the higher end of management guidance of USD8.9bn-USD9.7bn," said analysts. "We also expect Q2FY24 GM of 57.3% to be better than the consensus of 56.6%. We expect increased exposure to high-end Android smartphones, especially with ongoing strength of the Samsung S24 driving better Q2FY24 momentum."
The company's premium segment leadership is expected to drive its outperformance in the second half of 2024 as the focus on artificial intelligence PCs increases.
"We remain cautious about overall smartphone recovery this year," adds analysts. "While that view remains unchanged, we believe Qualcomm should still be able to drive growth due to its leadership in the premium segment, which would not only help drive revenue growth but also help in margin expansion."
"The overall AI PC opportunity remains too early to quantify but we believe there could be better visibility emerging in 2H24 after Computex given early positive performance feedback regarding Qualcomm's Arm-based CPU, Oryon, vs the AMD and Intel X86 CPU platform."