Qualcomm is a top pick for this fund manager

Goodreid Investment Counsel President and CEO Gordon Reid told BNN Bloomberg’s Market Watch on Sept. 17 that Qualcomm (Qualcomm Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials NASDAQ:QCOM) is an attractive investment as the company broadens its reach beyond the handset market.

“We talked about the chip business quite extensively today,” Reid said. “And Qualcomm is one of those; it’s been held back a little bit by the fact that a lot of their chips are components of handsets. And in the handset market, led by Apple and others, the Android-based products have really not grown substantially over the last number of years.”

Headquartered in San Diego, Qualcomm is a leading U.S. semiconductor company that designs chips, software, and wireless technology services. It holds patents critical to 5G, 4G and other global mobile communications standards.

“So there’s been a lot of this channel stuffing and difficulties with Qualcomm, but they’re moving away from that,” Reid said. “They’re getting into the Internet of Things. They’ve got a very big automotive business, autonomous automotive driving business. So their chipsets are having great application in new technology areas. And at 13 times earnings, much less than a lot of the other chip companies we were talking about, we think it’s a good place to invest.”

Qualcomm underscored its automotive ambitions earlier this month, announcing on Sept. 5 that its AI-enabled Snapdragon Ride Pilot Automated Driving System will debut in the new BMW iX3 at the IAA Mobility 2025 show. The system, validated in 60 countries and expected in more than 100 countries by 2026, uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Ride system-on-chips and a newly developed automated driving software stack. The scalable platform ranges from single-camera active safety features to multi-camera, multi-radar highway and urban automated driving functions, supported by a cloud-based global data system.

Shares of Qualcomm have gained 0.97% in the past 12 months and 40.21% over the last five years. On the Street, 25 analysts rate the stock “Buy,” 19 “Hold” and one “Sell,” with a consensus price target of US$180.71.

Qualcomm closed Sept. 22 at US$169.72.

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