Qualcomm Drops 21% in 2026 — Is BofA Right to Call It a Sell?

Meanwhile, retail sentiment on Reddit for QCOM stock has been consistently bearish since mid-February. There, sentiment scores have ranged from 20 to 36 across most tracked periods, well below the neutral threshold.

Here is what BofA’s narrative glosses over: Qualcomm just delivered a strong quarter. Q1 FY2026 revenue came in at $12.25 billion against a consensus of $12.18 billion, and non-GAAP EPS of $3.50 beat the $3.40 estimate.

Also, Qualcomm’s QCT semiconductor segment revenue hit a record $10.61 billion. Those aren’t the numbers of a company that’s falling apart.

Plus, the company’s automotive segment crossed the billion-dollar quarterly threshold for the second consecutive quarter, reaching $1.1 billion, up 15% year over year. Not only that, but Qualcomm’s IoT revenue added $1.69 billion, up 9%.

BofA’s Underperform rating is an outlier. The broader analyst consensus sits at Hold with an average price target of $168.48, implying meaningful upside from current levels.

Of 37 analysts tracked, 13 rate the stock a Buy and only 1 rates it a Sell. That lone sell is now BofA. You can check out Wall Street’s recent take on Qualcomm and its semiconductor peers for a broader read on how the sector is being positioned right now.

If Qualcomm can execute on automotive, IoT, and AI edge computing while the handset business stabilizes, a QCOM stock turnaround may be in store. If Apple’s departure lands harder than expected, though, then BofA’s Underperform rating will look prescient. The stock is essentially pricing in the bear case already, which is exactly when these calls get most dangerous to follow blindly.

Qualcomm stock’s 2026 slide is real, painful, and rooted in legitimate structural concerns. Yet, a company delivering record semiconductor revenues and growing its automotive business above $1 billion per quarter isn’tt a broken story.

Whether BofA is right depends entirely on how fast Qualcomm can replace what Apple takes away, and that answer won’t be clear for a while. So, watch the Q2 FY2026 print closely when it arrives. That will be the first real test of whether the guidance step-down was a speed bump or a preview of the new normal for Qualcomm.

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