Qualcomm Stock Forecast: Trending Upgrade From Top Analyst

Qualcomm (QCOM) stock has fallen 8.2% over the past year, sliding 6.3% in the last month but edging up 1.1% in the past week. Wall Street’s analysts are moderately bullish, forecasting a move toward a 12‑month average price target of $164.67 from a last close of $144.78.

Analyst Gary Mobley of Loop Capital has gone “against the grain,” upgrading QCOM to Buy with a new price target of $185, implying solid upside from current levels. His call comes after a roughly 20% year‑to‑date sell‑off and is based on what he sees as a favorable risk‑reward profile, including a dividend yield of about 2.5%.

Mobley argues that Qualcomm’s underperformance versus the chip sector stems largely from its lack of direct data center AI exposure, at least for now, and the drag from a severe memory chip shortage hurting smartphone demand. He expects that as memory supply gradually normalizes, smartphone markets and related chip demand should also stabilize, lifting sentiment around the stock.

Looking ahead, Mobley highlights several potential catalysts, including Qualcomm’s next analyst day, likely in early June, where management is expected to showcase progress in non‑smartphone revenue and outline a more detailed data center roadmap. He also anticipates the announcement of at least one additional data center customer beyond HUMAIN, which could help reshape investor perceptions of Qualcomm’s growth story.

A key part of the bullish thesis is revenue diversification, with handset chips expected to fall from over 60% of revenue in FY25 to around 40–45% by FY29 as automotive, industrial IoT, PCs, connectivity, XR/VR, and some AI inference gain share. TipRanks data show Mobley ranks 602 out of 12,078 analysts, with a 57.06% success rate and 14.8% average return per rating. Never miss a stock rating. Find all the latest ratings on TipRanks’ Top Wall Street Analysts page.