Qualcomm shares fall the most in five weeks on Thursday, company initiates layoffs in cost-cutting attempt

According to a statement by a Qualcomm representative earlier this week, the company has initiated job cuts as part of its promise to shareholders to achieve reduction of annual costs of $1 billion. However, the precise number of jobs cut remained undisclosed.

The shares of Qualcomm Incorporated closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on Thursday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since March 13th. The stock went down 4.82% ($2.66) to $52.57, after touching an intraday low at $52.51, or a price level not seen since November 1st 2017 ($50.51).

In the week ended on April 15th the shares of the digital communication technology company added 4.91% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the second gain out of six weeks.

The stock has extended its loss to 5.13% so far during the current month, following a 14.75% slump in March. The latter has been the largest monthly drop since January 2017.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NASDAQ-listed smart phone chip maker fell 1.81% following a 30.45% surge in 2016.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the scale of lay-offs is sufficiently large that the company will be obligated to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the state of California.

Meanwhile, a company spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, said that severance packages had been offered to affected full-time and temporary employees.

According to Reuters, as of September 24th, a total of 33 800 people were in full-time and part-time employment with Qualcomm Incorporated. That number also included temporary workers.

Qualcomm had previously announced that a number of targeted reductions would be conducted across its businesses in a cost-cutting attempt, as it sought investor support against a hostile bid from Broadcom Inc.

According to CNN Money, the 22 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Qualcomm Incorporated’s stock price, have a median target of $71.50, with a high estimate of $86.00 and a low estimate of $55.00. The median estimate is a 36.01% surge compared to the closing price of $52.57 on April 19th.

The same media also reported that 12 out of 25 surveyed investment analysts had rated Qualcomm Incorporated’s stock as “Buy”, while 11 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, today’s levels of importance for the Qualcomm stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $52.71
R2 – $52.85
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $52.99
R4 (Long Breakout) – $53.42
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $53.91
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $54.11

S1 – $52.43
S2 – $52.29
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $52.15
S4 (Short Breakout) – $51.72
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $51.23
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $51.03

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $55.29
R1 – $57.23
R2 – $58.74
R3 – $60.68
R4 – $62.63

S1 – $53.78
S2 – $51.84
S3 – $50.33
S4 – $48.83