BofA Securities Raises Qualcomm Price Target to $165

BofA Securities analyst Vivek Arya raised the price target on Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) to $165.00 (from $145.00) while maintaining an Underperform rating.

“Mgmt. called JunQ as the bottom for China QCT handset revenues.

Handset sell-through is stable (units flat YoY, seen via C1H China QTL -5% YoY), but QCOM has been under shipping demand (C1H China QCT handsets -39% YoY) due to Chinese OEMs reducing build plans and drawing down channel inventory as a response to increasing memory prices.

QCOM expects to begin shipping closer to end demand even as the smartphone sector is expected to see pressure (we see 2026 units -17% YoY), supporting view that 4Q will see QoQ Android QCT handset growth (but offset by QCOM’s 70% share in iPhone 17 falling to ~20% in iPhone 18).

The stock reacted positively on news of a custom silicon engagement with a hyperscaler exp. to begin shipping in CY26 and be pfOpM accretive.

While we await more details at 6/24 Investor Day (pot’l positive catalyst), we believe the program (exp. to be multi-gen) can contribute up to $750m/ $1.5bn in FY27/28E.

However, the DC XPU market is becoming increasingly crowded while DC programs are likely to take several years to become a significant contributor for QCOM.

We reiterate U/P as promising auto/IoT and opp’ty within competitive DC market likely not enough to offset Apple content loss and China Android headwinds.

Lower FY26/27E pf-EPS -4%/-5% but raise our PO to $165 (from $145) on 15x CY27E PE (13x prior) as the new hyperscaler custom program could become significant growth engine over time.”

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