Marvell shares rocket 32% on earnings beat and ‘tremendous’ business potential for A.I.

Shares of Marvell Technology continued a significant overnight rally Friday, surging about 32% off the back of quarterly earnings results that beat on the top and bottom lines.

On Thursday, the chipmaker posted 31 cents in adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter, more than the Refinitiv consensus estimate of 29 cents per share. Revenue came in at $1.32 billion for the period, more than the $1.3 billion analyst consensus.

Marvell shares are now trading at levels not seen since April 2022.

On an analyst conference call, Marvell CEO Matthew Murphy said the company had begun to reassess how it looked at the “tremendous” business potential of AI.

“In the past, we considered AI to be one of many applications within cloud, but its importance and therefore the opportunity has increased dramatically,” Murphy said.

Citi analysts said in a note to investors that the company has a major opportunity to grow its AI-driven revenue. Citi upped its price target from $58 to $61 and maintained its buy rating.

“In FY2023, MRVL estimated its AI revenue to be ~ $200 million, representing a strong uptick from FY22. The company expects AI sales to reach ~$400M+ in FY24 before doubling in FY25,” the note from Citi’s Atif Malik said.

Many semiconductor firms experienced a lift from Nvidia’s Wednesday blowout earnings report. Nvidia’s market capitalization now sits close to $1 trillion.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom and Chris Hayes contributed to this report.