Qualcomm key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Qualcomm had return on equity of 23.3%, an operating margin of 27.9%, debt equal to 69.8% of equity and a current ratio of 2.82. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Sept 2009 | 2010Sept 2010 | 2011Sept 2011 | 2012Sept 2012 | 2013Sept 2013 | 2014Sept 2014 | 2015Sept 2015 | 2016Sept 2016 | 2017Sept 2017 | 2018Sept 2018 | 2019Sept 2019 | 2020Sept 2020 | 2021Sept 2021 | 2022Sept 2022 | 2023Sept 2023 | 2024Sept 2024 | 2025Sept 2025 | LTMJun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 70.9% | 69.9% | 67.4% | 62.9% | 60.5% | 59.7% | 58.9% | 58.6% | 56.0% | 54.7% | 64.6% | 60.7% | 57.5% | 57.8% | 55.7% | 56.2% | 55.4% | 54.2% |
| Operating margin | 24.5% | 33.9% | 33.6% | 29.7% | 29.1% | 28.5% | 22.8% | 27.6% | 11.6% | 2.7% | 31.6% | 26.6% | 29.2% | 35.9% | 21.7% | 25.8% | 27.9% | 23.2% |
| Net margin | 15.3% | 29.6% | 28.5% | 31.9% | 27.6% | 30.1% | 20.8% | 24.2% | 11.0% | −22.0% | 18.1% | 22.1% | 26.9% | 29.3% | 20.2% | 26.0% | 12.5% | 21.0% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 61.7% | 33.2% | 28.8% | 24.7% | 31.1% | 29.1% | 17.8% | 30.1% | 19.4% | 13.8% | 26.4% | 18.7% | 25.8% | 15.5% | 27.5% | 28.6% | 28.9% | 23.6% |
| Return on equity | 7.8% | 15.8% | 17.8% | 20.2% | 19.7% | 21.2% | 14.9% | 18.1% | 7.8% | −31.5% | 153.5% | 94.6% | 112.8% | 92.5% | 36.5% | 42.4% | 23.3% | 37.9% |
| Return on assets | 5.8% | 11.2% | 12.7% | 15.4% | 15.5% | 16.9% | 10.6% | 11.1% | 4.1% | −10.1% | 13.4% | 15.2% | 23.5% | 28.7% | 14.5% | 19.1% | 10.5% | 17.2% |
| Asset turnover | 0.38 | 0.38 | 0.45 | 0.48 | 0.56 | 0.56 | 0.51 | 0.46 | 0.38 | 0.46 | 0.74 | 0.69 | 0.87 | 0.98 | 0.72 | 0.73 | 0.84 | 0.82 |
| Current ratio | 4.47 | 2.22 | 2.70 | 2.95 | 3.75 | 3.73 | 3.62 | 3.14 | 3.98 | 1.53 | 1.88 | 2.14 | 1.68 | 1.75 | 2.33 | 2.40 | 2.82 | 2.02 |
| Debt to equity | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 34.9% | 37.0% | 68.0% | >999% | 324.6% | 258.8% | 158.2% | 85.9% | 71.3% | 55.7% | 69.8% | 48.0% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | — | 86.7x | 44.1x | 63.1x | — | — | 55.5x | 21.9x | 5.2x | 0.8x | 12.2x | 10.4x | 17.5x | 32.4x | 11.2x | 14.4x | 18.6x | 14.8x |
| Effective tax rate | 25.4% | 21.7% | 19.9% | 19.5% | 16.5% | 14.2% | 18.8% | 16.6% | 18.2% | — | 41.4% | 9.1% | 12.0% | 13.4% | 1.4% | 2.2% | 56.2% | 17.4% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 22.6% | 22.3% | 20.0% | 20.5% | 20.0% | 20.7% | 21.7% | 21.9% | 24.6% | 24.9% | 22.2% | 25.4% | 21.4% | 18.5% | 24.6% | 22.8% | 20.4% | 22.4% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 14.1% | 13.7% | 13.0% | 11.9% | 10.1% | 8.6% | 9.3% | 10.1% | 11.9% | 13.2% | 9.0% | 8.8% | 7.0% | 5.8% | 6.9% | 7.1% | 7.0% | 8.3% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 7.3% | 3.9% | 4.0% | 6.7% | 4.2% | 4.5% | 3.9% | 2.3% | 3.1% | 3.5% | 3.7% | 6.0% | 5.6% | 5.1% | 4.0% | 2.7% | 2.7% | 4.5% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 402.7% | 112.4% | 101.1% | 77.2% | 112.8% | 96.7% | 85.6% | 124.3% | 176.3% | — | 145.9% | 84.8% | 95.6% | 52.8% | 136.2% | 110.0% | 231.4% | 112.5% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 68.7% | 36.2% | 31.6% | 25.9% | 30.0% | 32.5% | 54.6% | 52.4% | 133.0% | — | 67.7% | 55.4% | 33.3% | 24.8% | 47.9% | 36.4% | 68.7% | 41.3% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 21.5% | 114.9% | 34.5% | 61.4% | 86.2% | 92.6% | 313.1% | 97.5% | 106.6% | 833.7% | 74.4% | 121.0% | 73.7% | 92.8% | 65.3% | 70.0% | 98.3% | 125.5% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Sept 2024 | 2025 Q1Dec 2024 | 2025 Q2Mar 2025 | 2025 Q3Jun 2025 | 2025 Q4Sept 2025 | 2026 Q1Dec 2025 | 2026 Q2Mar 2026 | 2026 Q3Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 56.4% | 55.8% | 55.0% | 55.6% | 55.3% | 54.6% | 53.8% | 53.1% |
| Operating margin | 25.2% | 30.5% | 28.4% | 26.6% | 25.9% | 27.5% | 21.8% | 16.3% |
| Net margin | 28.5% | 27.3% | 25.6% | 25.7% | −27.7% | 24.5% | 69.5% | 20.1% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 23.3% | 36.9% | 21.3% | 24.9% | 31.8% | 36.0% | 18.1% | 5.0% |
| Current ratio | 2.40 | 2.62 | 2.73 | 3.19 | 2.82 | 2.51 | 2.37 | 2.02 |
| Debt to equity | 55.7% | 54.2% | 52.7% | 54.3% | 69.8% | 64.2% | 56.0% | 55.2% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 22.5% | 19.1% | 20.2% | 21.5% | 21.0% | 20.0% | 23.2% | 26.2% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 7.4% | 6.2% | 6.4% | 7.4% | 8.1% | 7.1% | 8.5% | 9.8% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $23.0bn of assets due within a year against $11.4bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $23.0bn short-term assets against $18.3bn of longer-dated liabilities.
- More cash than debt $4.5bn of cash against $15.3bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 55% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 121% to 55% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $12.4bn of operating cash flow against $15.3bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $10.2bn against $689m of interest.
Moat
Strong moat
How hard Qualcomm's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 20 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 22.7% of total assets over 8 years.
- Pricing power 19 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 56.6%, moving by 2.4 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 12 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 24.4%; its worst year was 7.1%.
- Cash conversion 20 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 21.6% of revenue.
- Discipline 15 / 20
The diluted share count fell 6.4% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 5.5% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
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