- With the FTC and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) levying several charges against Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) last week, the latter's complaint is compounding unease as direct impact to Qualcomm's business model is being weighed.
- Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon (reducing Qualcomm target from $80 to $65): "While the $1 (billion) is what captured most of the headlines, in our opinion it is a sideshow. Rather, AAPL is attempting a direct assault on Qualcomm's basic licensing business model, attacking the 'essential' nature of their IP, and directly targeting QCOM's device-level royalty model. The suit doesn't read well for the future of the chipset relationship either."
- As numerous other analysts recalculate lower and Qualcomm shares trade starkly in decline following Apple's suit filed late Friday, the combination of developments has contributed to a broad sense these claims may carry greater merit than the FTC complaint alone and signal prospectively increased economic risk to Qualcomm's business with Apple going forward.
- Related (January 17, 2017): Qualcomm disputes FTC complaint
- Related (January 23, 2017): Qualcomm disputes Apple's patent royalties charge