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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: waitwatchwander who wrote (13641)	8/13/1998 8:49:00 AM
From: Sawtooth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

Some good news. I wonder where they ranked? Thursday August 13, 7:30 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: QUALCOMM Incorporated QUALCOMM Selected by INDUSTRY WEEK as One of World's 100 Best-Managed Companies SAN DIEGO, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM - news) today announced it was named one of the world's 100 Best-Managed Companies by INDUSTRY WEEK (IW). ''QUALCOMM is proud to be recognized by INDUSTRY WEEK as one of the world's 100 best-managed companies,'' said Rich Sulpizio, president and chief operating officer of QUALCOMM. ''This award is a testament to the high-caliber employees in QUALCOMM's offices worldwide who have contributed to our growth and success in the global wireless telecommunications market.'' The winners for IW's third-annual list were selected by IW editors from the IW 1000, a list of the world's largest publicly held manufacturing companies released in the June 1998 issue of IW. INDUSTRY WEEK's 100 Best- Managed Companies were selected based on the following criteria: analysis of the company's financial performance; review of a questionnaire mailed to each IW 1000 company; research into each company's practices in areas such as philanthropy and safety; and voting by a panel of more than 80 business leaders, analysts and academicians from around the world. The 100 Best- Managed Companies will be recognized at the 100 Best-Managed Companies Awards Celebration and Executive Summit, February 1-3, 1999, at the Turnberry Isle Resort & Club in Aventura, Florida. ''INDUSTRY WEEK's 100 Best-Managed Companies demonstrate superior, consistent management performance, in good times and bad,'' said John Brandt, editor-in-chief of IW. ''These awards also recognize companies that are positioning themselves for the future by investing heavily in such areas as change, market development, people, and society.'' IW is a management magazine that helps senior executives in manufacturing and its supporting industries build, safeguard, and expand the wealth of their companies. Now in its 28th year, IW has an audience of more than 800,000 readers. It is the flagship of Penton Media Inc., a Cleveland-based publisher of business magazines, digests, and professional titles. Headquartered in San Diego, QUALCOMM develops, manufactures, markets, licenses and operates advanced communications systems and products based on its proprietary digital wireless technologies. The Company's primary product areas are the OmniTRACS(R) system (a geostationary satellite-based, mobile communications system providing two-way data and position reporting services), CDMA wireless communications systems and products and, in conjunction with others, the development of the Globalstar(TM) low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite communications system. Other Company products include the Eudora Pro(R) electronic mail software, ASIC products, and communications equipment and systems for government and commercial customers worldwide. For more information on QUALCOMM products and technologies, please visit the Company's web site at <http://www.qualcomm.com/>. Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 28, 1997 and most recent Form 10-Q. QUALCOMM, OmniTRACS and Eudora Pro are registered trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Globalstar is a trademark of Loral QUALCOMM Satellite Services, Incorporated. SOURCE: QUALCOMM Incorporated

To: waitwatchwander who wrote (13641)	8/13/1998 9:15:00 AM
From: Gregg Powers	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 152472

Stock weakness: Starting around 2:00pm yesterday somebody, who is apparently pretty well organized, began spreading several rumors about Qualcomm throughout the financial community. The first was that Bell Atlantic had stopped selling QC phones. The second was that QC was imminently going to preannounce disappointing fourth quarter results (September quarter), potentially have to restate prior period results due to a royalty controversy with the Korean government and that there was a potential disruption to the Korean cellular market. Having spoken with management at length, I will address these issues. First the bad news. Bell Atlantic is NOT widely selling QCP's right now. The good news? There are spot shortages because BANM has sold out their inventory and, with QCP production capacity constrained, are awaiting shipment of additional product (which is on its way). This is a testament to the strength of the 800mhz CDMA market, not some product problem or manufacturing difficulty at QPE. Translation. The "bad news" is "good news". Second. Management was absolutely, positively emphatic that there is nothing at all wrong with the company's current business and there is absolutely, positively no intention to preannounce anything negative. This story is a total fabrication. After the February "shock" from Samsung, QC's ASIC manager (Don Strock) went to Korea with the specific mission of improving the flow and continuity of orders deriving from QC's major Korean customers. Due to these efforts, QC has better visibility into Korea demand. Given this dynamic, and management's emphatic commentary about the state of the business, I would assign a zero..that's right..zero..probability to a surprise emanating from this Korean market this quarter. With regard to the Korean government and royalties. During its developmental days, QC entered into various agreements with companies (such as Motorola) and countries (such as Korea) on royalty sharing arrangements. There are all kinds of very specific conditions relating to these royalty-sharing arrangements...for example, MOT participated in QC royalties up until a certain aggregate amount was paid and then this liability was extinguished. In the case of the Korea government agency, this organization participates in QC royalties with regard to domestic (i.e. internal to Korea) cellular-based CDMA products. QC's contract with this agency has specific exclusions and limitations and it appears that our Korean friends would like to retroactively rewrite the contract. Qualcomm has politely refused and the agency has publicly threatened litigation (even though it is contractually bound to arbitration). The dollar amount under contention would appear to be between $5mm and $15mm and, at the very worst, this would be a prospective liability incurred after an extended arbitration process. That is, there is not now, and will not be in the future, any need for QC to restate anything. This is a "normal" contractual dispute about money where one side thinks its due more and the other side (i.e. Qualcomm) believes that it has performed exactly within the terms of the contract. This disagreement has no implications for the company's current or near-term business prospects and most likely will be settled "behind the scenes" as it is largely immaterial. Finally, the Cowen analyst been out suggesting that the Korean government intends to make it illegal for Korean wireless operators to subsidize the cost of handsets (i.e. pay Samsung $600 for the phone and sell it to the consumer for $100). He is apparently deriving this thought process for the government's stance on intra-chaebol subsidies. These subsidies occur when a healthy Korean company, within an conglomerate, loans money to, or other subsidizes, a failing Korean company, thereby weakening the entire concern. The Korean government has correctly observed that these cross-linkages have severely damaged many conglomerates and obstructed the discipline of market forces. Of course, the Cowen analyst has failed to note that handset subsidies are a normal business practice throughout the wireless industry worldwide. Such handset subsidies are nothing more than a marketing incentive by the carrier to induce subscribers to sign up. Moreover, even if such subsidies were outlawed in Korea (which is unlikely), carriers would respond with other incentives (such as free airtime etc.). There obviously is a huge difference between normal marketing practices and a Korean bank subsidizing the losses of a related-party construction affiliate. Apparently our friend at Cowen has failed to distinguish between these very different conditions. I suspect, my friends, that this is a 'bear raid'. The shorts have been burned badly to date and this concentrated dissemination of innuendo and outright falsehoods has created something of a panic in a sloppy market. QC's management is emphatic in their response to the fact-basis (or lack thereof) of these rumors. I hope that there is nothing more sinister at work here. But I remained concerned that this outright attack on QC's stock price has occurred shortly after the company responded to ETSI and refused to license its IPR for W-CDMA. Best regards, Gregg

To: waitwatchwander who wrote (13641)	8/13/1998 9:31:00 AM
From: bananawind	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Northforce... All... Telson are the Korean folks that MOT is subcontracting with, since it cannot seem to produce a working cdmaOne phone on its own. It is not news that Hansol is local sourcing for phones. That is exactly what they said they were going to do back in Jan/Feb when they cancelled the 1MM Q-phone order due to the exchange rate problem. By the way, the more interesting article from the link you provided was down the page a little further. It paints a pretty rosy picture for Korean wireless demand. Inter-City Call Revenues Decline 10 Percent Mobile phone services are undermining the inter-city call service of Korea Telecom and Dacom. The two wired carriers' revenues from the inter-city service have declined by more than 10 percent in the first half of this year, according to industry estimates. Their combined revenues stood at $625 million, down 10.4 percent from the same period last year. The total broke down to $567 million for Korea Telecom and $58 million for Dacom. The decline in sales revenue at these two firms is attributed to the rapidly growing number of mobile phone users who tend to make long-distance calls with their handsets, instead of using wired services. Meanwhile, Korea Telecom's share of the inter-city phone market increased to 94.41 percent in June from 93.55 percent in January, while Dacom's share fell to 5.59 percent in June from 6.45 percent in January. But KT's market share is expected to gradually decline to, since it is loosening its grip on the inter-city segment.