Marvell Technology Group (MRVL 3.71%) has disappointed investors so far in 2020 with a flat stock market performance, but that could soon change once the company releases its fiscal 2022 first-quarter report on June 7.
The chipmaker is on track to deliver solid results on the back of multiple growth drivers such as 5G wireless networks, data centers, and storage. And this is just one reason that investors looking to take advantage of hot tech trends should be buying Marvell Technology right now.
Let's look at two reasons this chipmaker is a solid bet.
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1. Marvell Technology is set to grow at higher rates
Marvell's lucrative end markets helped it finish fiscal 2021 on a high. The chipmaker's revenue was up 10% last year, while its adjusted earnings increased 41%. The good news for Marvell investors is that its growth rate is expected to jump.
The company originally called for $800 million in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022. It anticipates adjusted earnings of $0.27 per share at the midpoint of its guidance range. Marvell delivered $0.18 per share in earnings on revenue of $694 million in the year-ago quarter. So revenue could increase 15% year over year and earnings may jump 50% if it hits the midpoint of its guidance, indicating acceleration in its growth.
But don't be surprised to see Marvell exceed its own expectations, since it completed the acquisition of Inphi toward the end of the quarter. Last year, Marvell said that the $10 billion Inphi acquisition would complement its data center and 5G businesses, adding that its addressable market would go up to $23 billion. The acquisition has also bumped Marvell's end-market growth to an annual rate of 12% while generating annual cost synergies of $125 million within 18 months of the deal being closed.
So Inphi's addition should ensure faster top- and bottom-line growth for Marvell in the coming years. This is evident from analysts' estimates, which call for nearly 40% more revenue in fiscal 2022 followed by a 20%-plus increase in fiscal 2023. Its annual earnings are expected to jump to $1.35 per share this fiscal year from $0.92 last year, followed by an increase to $1.86 next year.
All of this indicates that Marvell is set to transform into a high-growth company, and it won't be surprising to see it remain one for a long time to come.
2. Long-term catalysts should ensure sustained growth
Marvell's chips are used in the networking and storage markets, and both of them are sitting on substantial catalysts. The networking business produced 55% of the company's revenue in the fourth quarter and registered 16% year-over-year growth. Its impressive gain was driven by 5G, automotive, and the cloud. These three verticals more than doubled in revenue last year and accounted for a quarter of the company's total sales in fiscal 2021.
The good part is that the demand for chips in these verticals is expected to boom. For instance, 5G base-station deployments are forecast to grow at an annual rate of nearly 34% through 2028. This bodes well for Marvell's networking business because it supplies 5G baseband processors to the likes of Samsung and Nokia, which play a key role in the deployment of 5G networks across the globe.
Additionally, Marvell is going after the 5G massive multiple-input multiple-output market in collaboration with Analog Devices, which expects its 5G business to pick up the pace as the year progresses. This is another fast-growing market that's expected to clock annual increases of 35% through 2027. Meanwhile, Marvell says that its automotive business is on track for a breakout this year, driven by additional design wins and more business from existing customers.
Similarly, the storage market that accounts for 41% of total revenue and recorded 10% annual growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 is also sitting on secular catalysts. Storage capacities have increased consistently over the years, and that trend is unlikely to change. IDC estimates that the installed base of storage capacity across the globe could rise at an annual rate of 17.8% through 2024.
Marvell supplies controllers that are used in enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard-disk drives (HDDs). Its storage accelerators are meant to help data centers and cloud service providers efficiently scale up their infrastructure, so don't be surprised to see them remain in strong demand.
In all, it is easy to see that Marvell's growth drivers are here to stay for a long time, which explains why analysts expect it to clock 35%-plus annual earnings growth for the next five years. So investors looking to add a growth stock to their portfolios shouldn't ignore Marvell Technology, which trades at just 25 times forward earnings. But it may not be available at an attractive valuation if shares shoot higher following its quarterly report on June 7.
