By George Glover and Anita Hamilton
After an impressive run up in the first part of the month, shares of chip and network technology firm Marvell broke their winning streak Wednesday, falling more than 1% by mid-afternoon on Wednesday.
But that is a relatively minor setback after rising more than 35% in April through Tuesday's close. What's more, booming data-center demand and custom chip partnerships with Big Tech hyperscalers, should help drive longer-term gains, according to Oppenheimer analyst Rick Schafer.
Schafer raised his price target for Marvell shares to $170 from $150 late Tuesday, while maintaining his Outperform rating. The new target implies the stock can jump 27% from its closing price Tuesday.
Before today, shares had risen for five straight sessions for their longest winning streak in more than a year. Over the past 12 months, the stock has soared 151%, according to FactSet data.
Schafer said Marvell is well-positioned because of its "full suite" of copper and optical products.
The company makes the digital signal processors that turn electrical signals into light pulses so that data can travel quickly through fiber optic cables. That means its processors have become a crucial part of the data centers required to power AI models. Schafer expects data centers to account for 75% of revenue this year.
That isn't the only reason the stock can rally, according to the analyst. He also highlighted Marvell's custom AI chips -- known as application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs. The company already makes ASICs for Amazon and is set to start producing custom chips for Microsoft from the second half of this year.
Schafer wrote that Marvell expects ASIC revenue to double to $4 billion next year and surge to more than $10 billion by 2028, citing a recent investor meeting Oppenheimer hosted in Europe with executives.
The analyst raised his 2027 earnings per share estimate to $3.92 from $3.84 and his 2028 EPS estimate to $5.53 from $5.35. The current Wall Street consensus is for EPS of $3.84 in 2027 and $5.46 in 2028, according to a FactSet poll.
In the broader stock market, the S&P 500 was climbing 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1% on fresh hopes for a resolution to the Iran war.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com and Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2026 14:23 ET (18:23 GMT)
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