EARNINGS REVIEW
Broadcom FY24 Q4 earnings report
Historical earnings report · Management guidance reflects expectations at the time of the release, not subsequent outcomes. The financial comparison uses the site’s normalized dataset, including comparative figures restated in later filings.
AI XPUs, Ethernet and VMware enlarged the annual business.
Assessment · AI XPUs, Ethernet and VMware enlarged the annual business. Reading consolidated margins alongside FCF separates business scale from cash realization. The next assessment depends on the business-specific checks set out below.
01 Business performance and growth drivers
Semiconductor solutions generated 8.230 B$ and infrastructure software 5.824 B$. Together they form consolidated revenue; software must not be relabeled as AI-semiconductor revenue.
Versus the preceding quarter, consolidated revenue changed by +0.982 B$ and operating profit by +0.839 B$; operating margin changed by +3.9 percentage points. Segment commentary explains the consolidated result. Sequential changes without controlling for acquisitions, seasonality and product transitions are not long-term growth rates.
02 Profit quality and margins
Adjusted EBITDA excludes items including acquired-intangible amortization, stock compensation and restructuring; it is not GAAP operating or net profit. Use both bases when assessing the profitability of acquisition-expanded sales.
On consolidated revenue of 14.054 B$, operating margin was 32.9% and net margin 30.8%. Net profit differed from operating profit by -0.303 B$, reflecting non-operating items, taxes and related effects. This difference cannot by itself be attributed to product demand or operating competitiveness.
03 Cash flow and financial capacity
Quarterly operating cash flow of 5.604 B$ less capital expenditure of 0.122 B$ gives common-basis FCF of 5.482 B$. Ending cash and cash equivalents were 9.348 B$, versus total liabilities of 97.967 B$. Liabilities are not equivalent to borrowings; cash excludes separately reported short-term investments.
Common-basis FCF was 39.0% of revenue. Both operating cash flow and capital expenditure refer to this quarter, not annual or trailing-twelve-month periods. Working-capital movements and non-cash adjustments mean operating cash flow need not equal net profit.
04 Management commentary and contemporaneous guidance
Annual AI revenue was 12.2 B$, up 220% YoY; this is neither quarterly AI revenue nor total semiconductor sales.
Next-quarter revenue guidance was approximately 14.60 B$; adjusted-EBITDA margin guidance was approximately 66%. These were contemporaneous forecasts, not GAAP net-income guidance.
05 Risks and next checks
Monitor customer-spending durability and post-acquisition VMware growth; do not mechanically apply annual AI growth to quarterly forecasts.
Quarterly results · CY-aligned presentation
| Metric · B$ | 2023 full-year total | 1Q FY23 Q2 2023-04-30 | 2Q FY23 Q3 2023-07-30 | 3Q FY23 Q4 2023-10-29 | 4Q FY24 Q1 2024-02-04 | 2024 total of 3 included quarters | 1Q FY24 Q2 2024-05-05 | 2Q FY24 Q3 2024-08-04 | 3Q FY24 Q4 2024-11-03 | QoQ Δ | YoY Δ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 38.865 | 8.733 | 8.876 | 9.295 | 11.961 | 39.613 | 12.487 | 13.072 | 14.054 | 0.982 | 4.759 |
| Operating income | 14.187 | 4.008 | 3.856 | 4.240 | 2.083 | 11.380 | 2.965 | 3.788 | 4.627 | 0.839 | 0.387 |
| Operating margin (%) | 36.503 | 45.895 | 43.443 | 45.616 | 17.415 | 28.728 | 23.745 | 28.978 | 32.923 | 3.945 pp | −12.693 pp |
| Net income | 11.633 | 3.481 | 3.303 | 3.524 | 1.325 | 4.570 | 2.121 | −1.875 | 4.324 | 6.199 | 0.800 |
| FCF · company definition | 18.393 | 4.380 | 4.597 | 4.723 | 4.693 | 14.721 | 4.448 | 4.791 | 5.482 | 0.691 | 0.759 |
| Operating cash flow · total | 18.864 | 4.502 | 4.719 | 4.828 | 4.815 | 15.147 | 4.580 | 4.963 | 5.604 | 0.641 | 0.776 |
| Net cash CapEx · common | 0.471 | 0.122 | 0.122 | 0.105 | 0.122 | 0.426 | 0.132 | 0.172 | 0.122 | −0.050 | 0.017 |
| Cash CapEx · Chinese company definition | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| FCF · total calculation | 18.393 | 4.380 | 4.597 | 4.723 | 4.693 | 14.721 | 4.448 | 4.791 | 5.482 | 0.691 | 0.759 |
| Net cash · liquid assets less borrowings | −63.939 | −27.706 | −27.236 | −24.991 | −63.939 | −58.179 | −64.134 | −59.946 | −58.179 | 1.767 | −33.188 |
| Liquid assets · including short-term investments | 11.864 | 11.553 | 12.055 | 14.189 | 11.864 | 9.348 | 9.809 | 9.952 | 9.348 | −0.604 | −4.841 |
| Borrowings · interest-bearing debt | 75.803 | 39.259 | 39.291 | 39.180 | 75.803 | 67.527 | 73.943 | 69.898 | 67.527 | −2.371 | 28.347 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 11.864 | 11.553 | 12.055 | 14.189 | 11.864 | 9.348 | 9.809 | 9.952 | 9.348 | −0.604 | −4.841 |
| Total liabilities · accounting liabilities | 107.586 | 49.660 | 49.516 | 48.873 | 107.586 | 97.967 | 105.250 | 102.315 | 97.967 | −4.348 | 49.094 |
CY denotes the calendar quarter with the greatest overlap with the fiscal period. If the first period has no start date, 89 days before its end is used only for calendar mapping. Financial values are not recalculated into calendar quarters. Incomplete years show totals of included quarters; cash, liabilities, borrowings and net cash use the last period-end balance. QoQ and YoY show absolute changes; margin changes are percentage points. Dashes indicate missing evidence or incomparable periods or definitions. Total liabilities never substitute for borrowings.
Definitions and evidence coverage
A dash means unavailable or undisclosed, not zero. Company-defined FCF may differ from total operating cash flow less common-basis CapEx. Total liabilities are accounting liabilities, not interest-bearing debt.
Management commentary summarizes the contemporaneous official earnings release; this report does not represent a full conference-call Q&A review.
Official source documents
- AVGO 2024 11 03 release ↗
- Canonical financial data filing reference ↗
- Filing source of the existing audited financial series ↗
- Financial filing · 2023-04-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2023-04-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2023-04-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2023-04-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2023-07-30 ↗
- Financial filing · 2023-10-29 ↗
- Financial filing · 2024-02-04 ↗
- Financial filing · 2024-05-05 ↗
- Financial filing / balance sheet ↗