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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mika Kukkanen who wrote (1548)	9/15/1999 7:51:00 AM
From: Ron M	Respond to of 13582

From the San Diego Union Tribune: Qualcomm shares rise on talk of unit sale, higher earnings estimates ASSOCIATED PRESS September 14, 1999 SAN DIEGO -- Shares of communications company Qualcomm Inc. rose more than 10 percent Tuesday after the firm announced it was seeking a buyer for its mobile phone manufacturing unit and that fourth quarter earnings would meet estimates. Qualcomm, which for months had been the subject of rumors that it would sell the phone manufacturing business, saw its shares hit $169.81 ¬, up $16.43 ó, or 10.7 percent, on the Nasdaq stock exchange in afternoon trading. The San Diego-based company hopes to sell the phone handset division by the end of the year because of a worldwide parts shortage caused by heavy demand and falling margins in the industry sparked by fierce competition, said spokeswoman Christine Trimble. Qualcomm will focus on licensing its CDMA technology to other phone manufacturers and will continue designing and manufacturing CDMA chips, Trimble said. The company also will continue manufacturing the Omnitracs global-positioning systems and maintain participation in Globalstar Telecommunications, a worldwide satellite-based phone network consortium. Qualcomm is also "reducing expenses," it said in a statement. Trimble declined to be more specific Tuesday about what expenses might be cut. Trimble said one option being mentioned is transferring employees from the consumer products division where the mobile handsets are made to other areas of the company, including the CDMA technology division. Trimble said the company is not breaking out the number of employees who might be affected, and layoffs are not being ruled out. Qualcomm has about 9,000 companywide, she said. The expense cuts may also result in a non-recurring charge to earnings The company also announced that it would report fourth-quarter earnings of 87 cents per share, in line with the consensus estimate of 88 cents per share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Qualcomm reported earnings of 54 cents per diluted share a year earlier. Trimble said Qualcomm will release its fourth-quarter earnings Nov. 2 after the U.S. financial markets close.