Topline
Forget Nvidia, there’s another Silicon Valley chipmaker drumming up analyst fanfare this week in Marvell Technology, whose shares surged Friday after the firm’s CEO told investors revenue from its artificial intelligence unit will grow four-fold in the next couple of years.
Key Facts
Marvell makes software and hardware powering a variety of applications, including cloud computing, autonomous vehicles and, most notably, the chips powering generative artificial intelligence.
After narrowly beating analysts’ consensus estimates for quarterly profit and sales, Marvell shares spiked more than 25% in early Friday trading—largely fueled by hopes about how the company stands to benefit from the AI craze.
In the post-earnings conference call, Marvell CEO Matt Murphy said he expects revenue from the firm’s artificial intelligence unit, which was $200 million last year, to “at least double” this year and double again in 2024.
That would be nearly $1 billion in sales, representing close to 20% of the firm’s total revenue last year.
In a Thursday note to clients, Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann declared Marvell his top stock pick along with Nvidia thanks to “emerging AI momentum,” setting a $100 price target for Marvell’s stock.
That would set a new record price for the stock, topping its 2021 peak of $91 and marking a dramatic 300% rise from its mid-$30s level in January.
Crucial Quote
Investors should consider Marvell a “safer way to gain exposure to the AI wave,” according to Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis, who says the company “stoked the flames” for bulls with its forecasts for AI-driven revenue growth. Curtis set a less ambitious $55 target for Marvell’s stock, though his buy rating is actually below the stock’s $62 share price Friday.
Key Background
Founded in 1995 by husband and wife Weili Dai and Sehat Sutardja, Marvell went public amid a tech boom five years later, amassing a nearly $20 billion valuation shortly after its Nasdaq listing—only to quickly sink to roughly $1 billion as stocks imploded. Its market cap stood at $52 billion Friday, about 5% as large as its peer Nvidia, whose stock is up 165% year-to-date thanks to its own AI-fueled optimism. Dai and Sutardja are each worth $1.2 billion, per Forbes calculations, though the couple was ousted from Marvell in 2016 amid fraud allegations.
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