QCOM enters the first week of May having just posted one of its biggest weekly gains in years — a 24% surge to $186.55 that has left short sellers nursing losses and options traders scrambling to reprice risk.
The catalyst was clear. QCOM reported its fiscal Q2 results on April 29, printing a 19.72% single-day gain — a jolt that reset the narrative around the stock and forced a rapid repositioning across the market. The move wiped out much of the defensive overhang that had built up through March and early April, when the stock traded as low as the mid-$120s and bears had piled in.
The retreat of short sellers is the most telling signal of how much the ground has shifted. Short interest has fallen 16% over the past month, dropping from roughly 58 million shares in late March to just under 49 million — now running at 4.6% of free float, a level that is modest rather than extreme. The weekly decline of 6.8% in short positions tells its own story: the earnings print forced covers, not new conviction shorts. With cost to borrow at just 0.46% and availability in the lending market generous, there is no squeeze dynamic at play. Shorts who remain are doing so cheaply and without meaningful pressure.
Options positioning has moved in the opposite direction. The put/call ratio has collapsed from 0.88 at end of March to 0.64 this week — nearly 1.4 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 0.75. That's close to the 52-week low of 0.59. Call activity is now dominating the options market, reflecting the enthusiasm that followed the earnings beat rather than any residual hedge demand. The ORTEX short score has also eased to 39.3 from 42.5 just two weeks ago, consistent with a stock where short-side conviction is fading.
The Street lifted targets broadly after the print, but the tone is notably cautious given how far the stock has run. Almost every firm raised its price target — TD Cowen to $200, RBC to $175, Evercore ISI to $179, JP Morgan and Citi to $160, UBS to $170 — but the bulk of that coverage retains Neutral or equivalent ratings. The consensus mean price target of $168.50 now sits roughly 10% below where QCOM is trading at $186.55. Barclays stands out at the negative end with an Underweight and a $150 target. Only a handful of names — TD Cowen, Benchmark — have active Buy ratings with targets meaningfully above the current price. The analyst community updated its views, but not its conviction. The RSI-14 at 78 flags that the stock is technically extended after this week's move.
Valuation multiples have re-rated sharply. The trailing PE expanded by more than six points over the past month to 17.4x, while EV/EBITDA rose nearly two points to 13.9x. The EV/EBIT factor ranks in the 88th percentile, suggesting the market is now paying a full price for what QCOM earns. The dividend yield, which ranked in the 99th percentile among factor scores — reflecting a genuinely attractive income profile at lower prices — has compressed as the stock rallied. Forward yield now shows at 2.2%.
Insider activity adds a layer of nuance. CEO Cristiano Amon sold $1.8 million worth of shares on May 4 at $180, and the CFO trimmed his position through April. The 90-day net sale figure across all insiders stands at roughly $4.3 million. These are modest amounts relative to QCOM's near-$197 billion market cap, and the significance scores attached to each trade are low — consistent with scheduled plan sales rather than conviction selling. Still, the timing, coming the week after a 20% earnings pop and right as the stock hits multi-year highs, is worth noting.
Close peers caught the same updraft. NXPI gained 27% on the week, while MCHP added 17%. MXL led the group with a 57% weekly move, reflecting how broadly the semiconductor complex re-rated after QCOM's print. The sector tone is bullish, not idiosyncratic.
The next scheduled event is the fiscal Q3 earnings release on June 24. Between now and then, the question is whether the Street — sitting mostly at Neutral with targets below the current price — begins to upgrade into strength, or whether the stock consolidates as valuation multiples absorb the move.
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