Qualcomm's (Nasdaq:QCOM) Earnings Soar Almost 40 Percent on Smartphones, Tablets

Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM) enjoyed the best quarter in the history of the company, driven by insatiable demand for smartphones and tablets, especially in the North American, Korean, and Japanese markets.

The wireless chip maker generated earnings of $1.17 billion, or 71 cents a share in the fiscal first quarter ending December 27. Last year in the same quarter the company earned $841 million or 50 cents a share.

Revenue in the quarter surged to $3.35 billion from $2.67 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts had been looking for revenue of $3.2 billion. The revenue gain was about 25 percent.

Guidance for the current quarter was boosted, with earnings projected to come in at a range of 77 cents to 81 cents a share, significantly above the 68 cents a share analysts are estimating.

Revenue for the quarter is estimated in a range of $3.45 billion to $3.75 billion, above the $3.14 billion estimate of analysts.

For 2011, Qualcomm increased its fiscal income estimate by 28 cents to a range of $2.91 to $3.05 a share. Its revenue estimate was raised to a range of $13.6 billion to $14.2 billion; an increase of about $1.2 billion.

Chip sales are expected to continue to rise, and the licensing business of the company to generate even more gains, part of which is in response to resolving an existing dispute with a customer Qualcomm wouldn't identify.

None of the revised estimates include the numbers Atheros Communications Inc. could add to the numbers once that deal is closed in the latter part of June.

Qualcomm closed the regular Wednesday trading session at $51.86, up $0.34, or 0.66 percent. They soared after hours to $55.05, gaining $3.19, or 6.15 percent, as of 8:00 PM EST.