No fun to be Qualcomm right now

Possible subhead: Company must announce something tomorrow (Wednesday)

Stock of Qualcomm rose 2.12 percent to $65.14 today (July 21) as national media and securities analysts discussed what the company will announce in its conference call with analysts tomorrow afternoon. It will reveal third-quarter earnings after the market closes tomorrow, and the expectations are grim.

The stock dropped 0.68 percent to $64.70 in after-hours trading, but it is still up on a day when the overall market was soft.

As alluded to in a Reader item yesterday (July 20), the company has a gun to its head. Hedge fund Jana Partners wants it to split its chipset and licensing businesses. Some are predicting a proxy war as Jana tries to get seats on the board.

Qualcomm lost some Samsung business, agreed to pay a billion-dollar fine to China, and is now under European antitrust investigation. Second-quarter earnings plunged 46 percent and the consensus of analysts is for third quarter earnings to be down 41 percent, according to Thomson Reuters.

Investor's Business Daily said today that the company may well announce jobs cuts "and even a possible breakup, among other options" at its conference call tomorrow. Reuters said the company will announce a layoff of more than 10 percent of its workforce. The rumor picked up by the Reader yesterday was for a cut of 4000 jobs, or almost 13 percent.

Barron's today noted the layoff and possible splitup rumors, adding that Apple and other customers are asking Qualcomm to cut its prices.

The Wall Street Journal said this morning that Qualcomm is expected "to conduct a sweeping strategic review" that will examine the various strategies for getting the ship back on course.

If there are 4000 layoffs, and a large percentage of them are in San Diego, Qualcomm's ills will make a dent in the San Diego economy. The company is the largest for-profit, private-sector employer in the county and eighth largest employer overall.