Qualcomm Forecast Disappoints Amid Apple Fight

Qualcomm Inc. met expectations with its quarterly earnings report Wednesday, but shares fell as the company's forecast excluded any sales related to Apple Inc. products and came in less than expected amid a legal battle with the iPhone maker. Qualcomm reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $866 million, or 58 cents a share, on revenue of $5.37 billion. Qualcomm was expected on average to report adjusted earnings of 83 cents a share on revenue of $5.28 billion, according to a FactSet analyst survey. Qualcomm's forecast was more highly anticipated, however, amid a big fight between Qualcomm and Apple over the licensing fees Qualcomm commands for its patented technologies, but Qualcomm did not include licensing fees in its forecast. "Our financial guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 excludes QTL revenues related to the sale of Apple products by Apple's contract manufacturers as well as the other licensee in dispute as we expect the recent actions taken by these licensees will continue until the respective disputes are resolved," the company said in its release. Qualcomm predicted adjusted earnings of 75 cents to 85 cents a share on sales of $5.4 billion to $6.2 billion. Analysts on average expected the fourth-quarter forecast to call for adjusted earnings per share of 93 cents on revenue of $5.51 billion, according to FactSet. Qualcomm shares dipped about 3% in late trading after the report was released, following a 0.9% gain in regular trading.