Wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc posted better than expected quarterly results and raised its full-year financial targets on improving demand for advanced phones, sending its shares up almost 5 percent.

The company, which also sells technology licenses, said it now expects fiscal 2011 revenue in a range of $14.1 billion to $14.7 billion, compared with its previous forecast range of $13.6 billion to $14.2 billion.

It forecast 2011 earnings per share in a range of $2.51 to $2.59 up from its previous expectation for $2.32 to $2.46.

Qualcomm on Wednesday posted net earnings of $999 million, or 59 cents per share, for its second quarter ended March 27 compared with a profit of $989 million, or 46 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding unusual items, it earned 86 cents per share compared with Wall Street expectations for 80 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose to $3.88 billion from $2.66 billion in the same quarter the year before and was ahead of analyst expectations for $3.6 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

While analysts had been expecting strong second-quarter growth from the launch of the first Apple Inc phone using Qualcomm chips in the quarter, some had worried that industry supply issues stemming from the massive earthquake in Japan could have hurt Qualcomm's growth.

Qualcomm shares rose to $57.28 in after-market trading after rising 3.5 percent to finish at $55.27 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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