Qualcomm Sees Q2 Earnings in Line

SAN DIEGO – Wireless technology vendor Qualcomm Inc. Monday said its second-quarter outlook was in line with analysts' expectations and chip shipments are at the high end of targets, driving the shares as it eased some investors' recent concerns about the company.

Qualcomm was up more than $2 in premarket trade after the forecast was released, trading at $34.82 compared with Friday's close of $32.70 on Nasdaq.

Qualcomm is one of many companies that have come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks over accounting methods. Shares have dropped 26 percent in February, while the broader Nasdaq has ds month named its chief financial officer to the job of president, narrowed its earnings guidance issued in late January for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31 to 20 cents per share from a range of 19 cents to 21 cents per share.

Analysts expect earnings of 20 cents per share for the quarter, which ends March 31, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.

When the company issued the guidance in January, it reined in Wall Street estimates, which at the time were for earnings of 24 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

The company said that phone chip shipments are in line or better than its targets.

"Our second fiscal quarter targets for MSM phone chip shipments are coming in on the upper end of our original estimate of 13-14 million units and our CDMA2000 1X chip shipments are expected to be approximately one million units higher than our original estimate," Chief Executive Irwin Mark Jacobs said in a statement.

Qualcomm said that it is increasingly confident in the future of next generation wireless technology, known as "3G," in the United States.

The company will hold a conference call for investors Monday afternoon.