The Ledger ResearchPrivate

The Front Office

Scouting report · QCOM

Akash Palkhiwala

  • Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer, QCOM since 2019-11src

Qualcomm finance lifer since 2001; CFO since November 2019, COO since 2024

A−82 / 100

Ranked #9 of 23

Scouting sheet

as of 24 Sep 2026
Delivers guidance732 beat · 8 met · 2 missed · 0 withdrawn
Answers the question914 dodges in 86 answers on 8 calls
Capital allocation100company five-year record: compounds
Pay design87operating income, revenue, strategic, relative tsr, eps, time only · 91.8% for · 0.24% of net income
Skin in the game48stake worth $10.9m, 0.8× last year's pay
Age
50src
In the role
7 yr
Promises scored
12
Hit rate
83%
Dodges / 100 answers
4.7
Airtime on calls
31%
Every promise, oldest firstBMMBMMMXMMMX

What to weigh

Watch 4

  • Four of the five dodges the dossier scored across eight calls were his answers: the Apple-exit margin effect, China's share of auto, China's share of handsets, and whether the accelerated Apple exit was a supply choice. China exposure was asked on four calls and never given a numbersrc
  • The Apple 20%-share assumption for the 2026 launch, first stated by him in November 2024, was reaffirmed as unchanged on 2026-04-29 and cut on 2026-07-29 (dossier S8 row 14, scored missed)src
  • Sold 48,372 shares (about $8.2m) in the 12 months to 2026-09-24 under two 10b5-1 plans, roughly monthly. Direct holdings fell from 54,803 shares (2025-12-15) to 18,184 after the 2026-09-11 salesrc
  • He holds CFO and COO together and took an outside public board seat (Applied Materials, Audit Committee) in August 2026src

In their favour 2

  • About 60% of his FY2025 equity target ($6.0m of $10.0m) is PSUs on 3-year relative TSR and 3-year average adjusted EPS; the FY2023-25 PSUs paid 66% of targetsrc
  • Met the 2x-salary ownership guideline at 2025-12-15, and company policy bars hedging and pledgingsrc

Career

  1. 2024-01 – now
    Qualcommsrc
    EVP, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer
    As COO: finance, global go-to-market, semiconductor operations and IT, per AMAT-8K-2026-08-27
  2. 2019-11 – 2024-01
    Qualcommsrc
    EVP & Chief Financial Officer
    Appointed at age 44 on a $750,000 salary and a 100%-of-salary bonus target
  3. 2019-08 – 2019-11
    Qualcommsrc
    SVP & Interim Chief Financial Officer
  4. 2015-12 – 2019-08
    Qualcomm Technologies (QTI)src
    SVP, QCT Finance (led the chip segment's finance function)
  5. 2014-10 – 2015-12
    Qualcommsrc
    SVP & Treasurer (capital markets, treasury operations, cash management, investment portfolio)
  6. 2012-10 – 2014-10
    Qualcomm Technologies (QTI)src
    VP, QCT Finance
  7. 2009-10 – 2012-10
    Qualcommsrc
    VP, Finance
  8. 2001-03 – 2009-10
    Qualcommsrc
    Various finance and leadership roles
    Before Qualcomm he was an Analyst at KeyBank (a private-equity analyst per the Applied Materials release); no dates given

Not located: Pre-March 2001 (KeyBank analyst) and his degree years are undated in every source read; 2001-2009 is described only as 'various finance and leadership roles'

Achievements

  • Spent 18 years in Qualcomm finance, including Treasurer and head of QCT (chip) finance, before becoming CFO in November 2019src
  • Added Chief Operating Officer in January 2024, covering go-to-market, semiconductor operations and IT on top of financesrc
  • Per the dossier's S8 rows 1-7, every quarterly revenue and EPS guide he gave from Q1 FY25 to Q3 FY26 landed in or above its range, including the memory-hit Q2 FY26src
  • Joined the Applied Materials board and its Audit Committee in August 2026src
  • Set a FY2025 target of returning 100% of free cash flow; the dossier's S8 row 10 scores it met at 98%src

Education

  • L.D. College of Engineering, India, Undergraduate degree Mechanical Engineeringsrc
  • University of Maryland, MBA Businesssrc

Background

  • Family The proxy's related-person section discloses no relationship involving him; the only family tie it reports is the CEO's brother's employmentsrc
  • Boards Director of Applied Materials and member of its Audit Committee since 2026-08-27, while serving as Qualcomm's CFO and COOsrc
  • Other Trained as a mechanical engineer in India before an MBA and a KeyBank analyst job; his whole senior career has been at Qualcommsrc
  • Other No employment contract. Qualcomm executives are at will, have no single-trigger change-in-control benefits and no unique tax gross-upssrc

The promise ledger

12 scored · 0 open
ResultWhat was promisedWhere it is scoredHow
B BeatQ1 FY25 revenue $10.5–11.3bn, non-GAAP EPS $2.85–3.05; QCT $9.0–9.6bn; QTL $1.45–1.65bnQCOM row 1said it
M MetQ2 FY25 revenue $10.2–11.0bn, EPS $2.70–2.90; QCT $8.9–9.5bn; QTL $1.25–1.45bnQCOM row 2said it
M MetQ3 FY25 revenue $9.9–10.7bn, EPS $2.60–2.80; QCT $8.7–9.3bn; QTL $1.15–1.35bnQCOM row 3said it
B BeatQ4 FY25 revenue $10.3–11.1bn, EPS $2.75–2.95; QCT $9.0–9.6bn; QTL $1.25–1.45bnQCOM row 4said it
M MetQ1 FY26 revenue $11.8–12.6bn, EPS $3.30–3.50; QCT $10.3–10.9bn; QTL $1.4–1.6bnQCOM row 5said it
M MetQ2 FY26 revenue $10.2–11.0bn, EPS $2.45–2.65; QCT $8.8–9.4bn; QTL $1.2–1.4bn; handsets ~$6bnQCOM row 6said it
M MetQ3 FY26 revenue $9.2–10.0bn, EPS $2.10–2.30; QCT $7.9–8.5bn; QTL $1.15–1.35bn; handsets ~$4.9bnQCOM row 7said it
X MissedQ3 FY25 QCT handsets: "We expect QCT handset revenues to increase approximately 10% on a year-over-year basis driven by growth in Android"QCOM row 8said it
M MetFY25 QTL: "we expect fiscal ‘25 QTL revenues to be consistent with fiscal ‘24"QCOM row 9said it
M MetFY25 capital return: "We are increasing our capital return target to 100% of free cash flow in fiscal 2025"QCOM row 10said it
M MetApple share at the fall-2025 launch: "So we're forecasting approximately 70% share in that launch"QCOM row 12said it
X MissedApple share at the fall-2026 launch ~20%, FY27 Apple product revenue ~$2bn: "Our planning assumption has been that the share will ramp down to 20% for the '26 launch, and the agreement ends after that"QCOM row 14said it, with a colleague

Questions dodged

4.7 per 100 answers

  1. Q4 FY24 (2024-11-06) · Apple exit — effect on QCT margins · C.J. Muse (Cantor Fitzgerald). Asked: "if it were to happen, how should we think about the moving parts to your overall QCT margins?" Akash Palkhiwala: "I think no real change, no new information here." — then restated the 20% share assumption. The margin question was not addressed. (Asked again by Seymore in Q2 FY25 and Liani in Q3 FY25; both got the…

    from QCOM · dossier-2026-09-24.md

  2. Q4 FY24 (2024-11-06) · China share of automotive · Joshua Buchalter (TD Cowen). Asked "how much your exposure within the auto market is driven by the China market now?"; Palkhiwala: "you should not think of this as reliant on a specific geography", with a promise of future disclosure.

    from QCOM · dossier-2026-09-24.md

  3. Q2 FY26 (2026-04-29) · China share of handsets · Ross Seymore (Deutsche Bank). Asked "what percentage of handsets is China"; Palkhiwala answered on channel inventory — "the drawdown of channel inventory will end soon, and that's us calling the bottom on the quarter" — and gave no percentage.

    from QCOM · dossier-2026-09-24.md

  4. Q3 FY26 (2026-07-29) · whether the Apple exit was a supply choice · Stacy Rasgon (Bernstein). Asked: "are you basically starving Apple, getting them out quicker than you could have and using that silicon to send it elsewhere?" Palkhiwala: "Yes. I wouldn't characterize it as such, Stacy." then that "our supply constraints were a part of it", the outcome (share "materially less than 20%", FY27 Apple revenue belo…

    from QCOM · dossier-2026-09-24.md

Calls reviewed

  • FY2024-Q4.roic.json — 13 answers, 37% of the words
  • FY2025-Q1.roic.json — 11 answers, 34% of the words
  • FY2025-Q2.roic.json — 9 answers, 27% of the words
  • FY2025-Q3.roic.json — 9 answers, 27% of the words
  • FY2025-Q4.roic.json — 11 answers, 33% of the words
  • FY2026-Q1.roic.json — 11 answers, 28% of the words
  • FY2026-Q2.roic.json — 10 answers, 24% of the words
  • FY2026-Q3.roic.json — 12 answers, 40% of the words

Sources

11
  1. Filing QUALCOMM 10-K for FY ended 2025-09-28 (0000804328-25-000085), Information about our Executive Officers and signatures · 2025-11-05
  2. Filing QUALCOMM DEF 14A for the 2026 annual meeting (accession 0001104659-26-005781) · 2026-01-22
  3. Filing QUALCOMM 8-K Item 5.02, Palkhiwala appointed EVP & CFO effective 2019-11-06 (0001728949-19-000074) · 2019-11-06
  4. Filing Applied Materials 8-K Ex. 99.1, Palkhiwala appointed to the board and Audit Committee (0001628280-26-059257) · 2026-08-27
  5. Filing QUALCOMM 8-K Item 5.07, 2026 annual meeting results (0000804328-26-000041) · 2026-03-19
  6. Filing SEC XBRL companyconcept us-gaap/NetIncomeLoss, CIK 804328 (FY2025 10-K, 0000804328-25-000085) · 2025-11-05
  7. Filing Form 4, Akash J. Palkhiwala, sales of 2025-10-20, first of twelve monthly 10b5-1 sale filings in the window (0000804328-25-000068) · 2025-10-20
  8. Filing Form 4, Akash J. Palkhiwala, sales of 2026-09-11, the latest in the window (0000804328-26-000094) · 2026-09-11
  9. Call transcript QCOM Q4 FY2024 earnings call (2024-11-06), ROIC.ai
  10. Call transcript QCOM Q2 FY2026 earnings call (2026-04-29), ROIC.ai
  11. Call transcript QCOM Q3 FY2026 earnings call (2026-07-29), ROIC.ai