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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dealer who wrote (11276)	11/2/2000 8:28:34 PM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 65232

George Bush--Breaking News---was arrested DUI....20 years ago and lost his license for two years. Fox is making a big deal......bad timing for this news......will take thiem off stride while answering the press on this. Doesn't make a darn to me. 20 years ago???? Geez! To bad Clinton didn't inhale. dealie

To: Dealer who wrote (11276)	11/3/2000 7:26:09 AM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

QCOM--Qualcomm Delays Chip-Set IPO, Posts Drop in Quarterly Revenue By Pui-Wing Tam Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal Qualcomm Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue declined, while its earnings slightly exceeded previously lowered expectations. The company also postponed an initial public offering for its chip-set business due to stock-market turbulence. Citing "unfavorable market conditions," the San Diego company said its chip-set business, dubbed Spinco, will delay an IPO until at least January. In July, when Qualcomm announced it would split itself into two companies -- a chip-set business and a wireless intellectual-property player focusing on Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA, licenses and patents -- it said a Spinco IPO would happen by the end of the year. "Market conditions obviously have been turbulent," said Tony Thornley, Qualcomm's chief financial officer. "We thought it would be appropriate to wait" before launching the offering. Qualcomm said its net income for the fiscal fourth period ended Sept. 30 rose slightly to $139 million, or 17 cents a share -- a 2.2% rise from $136 million, or 18 cents a share, for the year-ago period. The company also reported pro forma revenue of $635 million, down 11% from $716 million a year ago. Excluding amortization of goodwill and other intangibles, Qualcomm generated earnings of 25 cents a share, beating the 24-cents-a-share consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial. The company said its results were affected by weaker-than-expected revenue, resulting primarily from poor sales in South Korea, whose government banned mobile-phone subsidies in June. Qualcomm sold just 11 million chip sets world-wide during its fourth quarter, less than expectations of 12 million to 13 million. Still, Mr. Thornley said the company was able to offset declining revenue with an upsurge in the licensing of its CDMA patents to new customers. During the fourth quarter alone, the company signed eight new CDMA license agreements, he said. Qualcomm reported earnings after the close of trading Thursday. At 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, its shares rose $1.31 to $62.81 each. In after-hours trading, they jumped sharply to $67.57 each, according to Instinet, though they still are sharply off their 52-week high of $200. Qualcomm has been on something of a roller-coaster ride during the past few months. In addition to problems in South Korea, it has been plagued by speculation about whether China will adopt CDMA as a new wireless technology for its huge market. What is more, Globalstar Telecommunications LP, a satellite-services provider that is a key Qualcomm customer and partner, reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss earlier this week, causing Qualcomm's stock to take a battering. Nonetheless, Qualcomm provided positive guidance for its fiscal first quarter. The company said it expects to meet Wall Street earnings estimates of 28 cents a share, even after taking into account lower earnings of about two cents a share as a result of a decrease in revenue from business with Globalstar. In addition, the company expects to ship about 14 million chip sets in the fiscal first quarter, up from the 11 million in the fourth quarter. "At first blush, the guidance looks encouraging," said Brian Modoff, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Alex Brown. "This looks pretty good." Qualcomm's chairman and chief executive, Irwin Jacobs, said Qualcomm is "cautiously optimistic" for fiscal 2001, particularly because of potential in China's market. He said he is hopeful that "China will deploy a CDMA network soon," but didn't elaborate on timing. In its fourth quarter, Qualcomm signed 13 new research-and-development agreements with Chinese telecom manufacturers. Dr. Jacobs also said he expects CDMA licensing activity to increase as telecom manufacturers migrate to "third-generation" wireless networks. Mr. Thornley added that Qualcomm expects a pickup in business in South Korea during the first quarter. Despite the ban on handset subsidies, the sale slowdown "appears to have bottomed and has begun picking up in October. It should be back to normal in the first quarter," he said. Write to Pui-Wing Tam at pui-wing.tam@wsj.com