Chipset company Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) has announced its Q3 2010 results for the three months ending June 28. It had revenues of $2.71 billion, down 2 percent year-on-year.

Net income was $767 million, up 4 percent year-on-year.

Despite the financials being mixed, Qualcomm said it had performed better than predicted.

In particular it pointed out it had shipped 103 million CDMA-MSM chipsets, up 10 percent year-on-year and up 11 percent compared to Q2 2010.

As a fabless designer of chips, Qualcomm's revenues tend to run three to six months ahead of the OEMs who sell devices to consumers.

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CEO and chairman Paul Jacobs said, "Our financial performance this quarter exceeded our prior expectations, driven by record MSM chipset shipments, favourable product mix and continued strong demand for 3G devices around the world."

The company's operating cash flow was $951 million, down 13 percent year-on-year, but up 35 percent compared to Q2 2010.

Qualcomm ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $17.6 billion, compared to $18.2 billion at the end of Q2 2010, and $15.7 billion at the end of Q3 2009.

In terms of shareholder business, it spent $1.49 billion during the quarter, of which $309 million was paid out as dividends and $1.18 billion in terms of stock repurchases.

[source: Qualcomm]