At a Glance: The Q·Score

INTC scores 4.9 / 10, labelled Bearish, while QCOM scores 6.9 / 10, labelled Neutral — a gap of exactly 2.0 points. In a head-to-head comparison, a gap of this size typically signals that one company is meaningfully stronger across multiple dimensions rather than pulling ahead on just one or two metrics. As the sections below show, QCOM's lead is broad-based, though the two tickers are closer than the headline gap suggests on a couple of dimensions.

Quality — Profitability and Capital Efficiency

QCOM leads the Quality dimension decisively. Its net profit margin — the percentage of revenue that becomes profit after all costs — stands at 22.3%, a healthy figure for the semiconductor sector where margins can vary widely depending on whether a company designs chips, manufactures them, or both. INTC, by contrast, carries a net profit margin of -5.9%, meaning it is currently spending more than it earns. Return on equity (ROE) — a measure of how efficiently a company generates profit from shareholders' capital — tells the same story: QCOM posts 36.1% versus INTC's -2.9%. A negative ROE reflects the losses flowing through INTC's books at this point in its turnaround cycle. The data gives QCOM a clear edge here.

Health — Balance Sheet and Execution

The Health dimension examines financial resilience and management's track record of delivering on earnings expectations. On EPS beat rate — the proportion of recent quarters in which a company's reported earnings per share exceeded analyst forecasts — QCOM posts a perfect 100%, meaning it has beaten consensus estimates every quarter in the measured period. INTC's beat rate of 75% is respectable in isolation but trails meaningfully in this comparison. The data available here does not include debt/equity or current ratio figures for either company, so the dimension score reflects primarily the execution track record. On that basis, QCOM holds the edge in Health, though INTC's 75% beat rate is not a negligible number.

Growth — Revenue, Earnings, and Surprise

This is the one dimension where the picture is genuinely mixed, and it is worth reading carefully. INTC shows revenue growth of 7.2% year-over-year — a positive trajectory that suggests its top line is recovering. QCOM, however, shows revenue growth of -3.5%, meaning its revenues have contracted over the same period. On the earnings side, the contrast flips sharply: QCOM reports earnings growth of 173% — a dramatic expansion in profitability — while INTC's earnings growth figure is not available (reported as null in the underlying data, likely reflecting the difficulty of calculating a meaningful growth rate from a loss-making base). The combination of surging earnings growth and a perfect EPS beat rate gives QCOM the overall edge on the Growth dimension despite its revenue contraction, though INTC's positive revenue momentum is a notable data point in its favour.

Valuation — Price Relative to Fundamentals

Valuation is where the numbers diverge most dramatically. INTC's forward P/E of 77.3x is exceptionally elevated — in the semiconductor sector, forward P/E ratios in the 15x–25x range are broadly considered normal for established players, meaning INTC is priced at roughly three to four times that level. This reflects a market pricing in a significant earnings recovery rather than current profitability. QCOM's forward P/E of 19.0x sits comfortably within the typical sector range, suggesting its current price is more closely anchored to near-term earnings expectations. On analyst consensus price targets, both stocks sit above where analysts currently see fair value: INTC's consensus target implies -26.1% downside from its current price of $118.96, while QCOM's target implies -12.3% downside from $202.51. Neither stock is trading below its analyst consensus target, but INTC's gap is more than twice as wide. The Valuation dimension gives the edge to QCOM.

Sentiment — Analyst Consensus

Sentiment is the closest dimension in this matchup, and the numbers here are worth examining carefully. Of the 42 analysts covering INTC, 27% carry a positive rating. Of the 31 analysts covering QCOM, 29% carry a positive rating. The difference — just two percentage points — is essentially a statistical tie in terms of analyst enthusiasm, and it is striking that both stocks attract relatively modest positive coverage despite operating in one of the most closely followed sectors in the market. For INTC, the low positive ratio alongside a deeply negative implied return from the consensus price target paints a cautious picture from the analyst community. For QCOM, the similarly low positive ratio sits in some tension with its strong fundamental metrics — a divergence worth noting. QCOM's marginally higher buy ratio gives it a narrow edge on Sentiment, but this is the dimension where the two companies are most evenly matched.

What the Data Shows

QCOM holds a 2.0-point Q·Score advantage over INTC (6.9 vs 4.9), with the gap driven primarily by QCOM's dominant Quality metrics — a 22.3% profit margin and 36.1% return on equity against INTC's negative readings on both — as well as its more conventional valuation multiple and perfect EPS beat rate. The Sentiment dimension is the closest of the five, with both companies attracting positive ratings from fewer than 30% of their covering analysts. The one area where INTC's data offers a contrasting signal is revenue growth: its 7.2% top-line expansion outpaces QCOM's -3.5% revenue contraction, a reminder that the two companies are at very different stages of their current business cycles, and that no single metric tells the complete story.

Explore the Full Comparison

The live, interactive breakdown — updated in real time — is available at quantify.biz/compare/intc-vs-qcom.