** Qualcomm QCOM.O on Wednesday forecast sales and profits above analyst expectations as artificial intelligence features helped fuel demand for smartphones, but expected flat revenue from its patent licensing business

** Qualcomm last year stopped selling chips to Huawei but still retained a license agreement with the Chinese telecoms giant

** Shares down 4.2% at $168.50 in premarket trading

WEATHERING THE STORM

** BofA Global Research ("buy", PO: $245) says the results attest to Qualcomm's ability to lead with smartphone technologies and diversify its portfolio into Automotive and Compute

** TD Cowen ("buy", PT: $195) sees the impact of the flat revenue outlook for its patent licensing business and the removal of Huawei royalty to be mild, but says it "adds another brick to the wall of worry facing the stock"

** Barclays ("overweight", PT: $185) says the "ongoing Huawei negotiations and 2 QTL signing delays add some uncertainty to the mix, but otherwise there's not much to pick at here"

** Bernstein ("outperform", PT: $215) says the only minor nitpick might be the Huawei license renegotiations, but impact is small

(Reporting by Joel Jose in Bengaluru)

((joeljose@thomsonreuters.com))