Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave a bullish sales forecast for the current period, pointing to bright spots in the mobile device industry. The shares jumped in early trading on Thursday.

Revenue in the quarter ending in December will be US$10.5 billion to US$11.3 billion, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Analysts, on average, estimated US$10.5 billion. Profit, minus certain items, will be as much as US$3.05 a share, beating Wall Street projections.

Investors are looking for signs that the smartphone market is rebounding, particularly in China. Qualcomm has an edge in that country because its chips run most of the popular smartphones, especially high-end models. Wednesday’s outlook signals that a recovery in demand is underway. The company said China sales of Android-based phones increased 40% in the fiscal year, which ended Sept 29.

Qualcomm shares gained about 7% in premarket trading Thursday after closing at US$172.99 in New York. The stock has risen 20% this year.

Though chief executive officer Cristiano Amon is pushing Qualcomm deeper into other markets, such as automotive and computing, the company still gets more than 60% of revenue from phone-related chips. That makes its financial performance a bellwether for the smartphone industry.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, profit was US$2.69 a share, excluding some items. Revenue rose 19% to US$10.2 billion. Analysts had estimated earnings of US$2.56 a share and sales of US$9.91 billion.

Phone-related sales increased 12% to US$6.1 billion in the period, just ahead of the analyst average projection of US$6 billion. Revenue of chips used in vehicles jumped 68% to US$899 million. Analysts predicted US$816 million. Connected-device chips brought in US$1.68 billion, ahead of the US$1.55 billion average estimate.

One of Qualcomm’s biggest customers, Apple Inc, uses the company’s modem chips in the iPhone, but is working to replace that component with an in-house version. Qualcomm, which has held on to business from Apple for longer than many had predicted, has repeatedly cautioned investors that over time that source of revenue will go to zero.

Another main driver of Qualcomm’s profit comes from licensing the fundamental technology that underpins all modern mobile networks. Phone manufacturers pay these fees to Qualcomm whether or not they use its chips.

The company authorised a US$15 billion share buyback programme to replace a US$10 billion plan announced in October 2021. The current repurchase programme had US$1 billion of authority remaining, Qualcomm said in the statement.

  - Bloomberg