Marvell Technology Group (MRVL -4.77%) looked like an enticing bet going into its first-quarter fiscal 2022 earnings report thanks to a bunch of powerful catalysts, and the company didn't disappoint. The chipmaker bested Wall Street's estimates as its top and bottom lines shot up remarkably, while the outlook was solid enough to send the stock higher after the earnings report.
Robust demand from several fast-growing end markets gave Marvell a nice boost during the quarter, a trend that's likely to continue for a long time to come. Let's look closely at the factors driving Marvell's growth and see why it is one of the top growth stocks you can buy right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
Marvell Technology's terrific growth is here to stay
Marvell's revenue jumped 20% year over year to $832.3 million in Q1, easily clearing the consensus estimate of $806.7 million. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.29 per share, a substantial increase over the prior-year period's figure of $0.18 per share and ahead of the $0.27 per-share analyst estimate. The results were better than what Marvell was anticipating.
The acquisition of Inphi that was completed toward the end of the quarter gave Marvell's top line a shot in the arm. However, it is worth noting that the chipmaker did well even on a stand-alone basis. It reported $810.5 million in revenue excluding Inphi's contribution, which exceeded the company's guidance of $800 million, driven by the growth of its networking and storage businesses.
The networking business recorded 26% year-over-year growth during the quarter and accounted for 60% of the total revenue. Excluding Inphi's contribution, Marvell's networking revenue was up 21% on the back of growth in the 5G and cloud networking markets. Marvell's 5G business did well on the back of "standard and semi-custom product shipments to Samsung and Nokia," which isn't surprising as these two companies are winning big from global 5G deployments.
Meanwhile, the demand for Marvell's data processing units was strong last quarter, which isn't hard to believe given the massive potential in this market. The chipmaker's enterprise business also put in a solid performance, recording double-digit growth once again despite a soft spending scenario. Marvell expects enterprise spending to recover later in the year. Throw in the fact that Marvell is winning new business in the switching and data center markets, and it's easy to see why the company anticipates its networking business to keep growing at high rates.
Marvell expects networking revenue to increase in the high teens on a year-over-year basis this quarter. Including Inphi's contribution, the year-over-year growth is expected to hit 70%. Marvell says that Inphi will add $215 million to its revenue this quarter and prove accretive to the company's adjusted earnings. More importantly, the chipmaker expects Inphi to grow at a higher pace than Marvell thanks to the "demand for high-speed connectivity inside and between data centers and in the carrier market."
All of these catalysts are expected to drive stronger growth in the networking business in the second half of the year.
The storage business also chipped in with a nice showing during the quarter. Revenue increased 17% year over year and accounted for 36% of the top line, driven by an increase in demand for solid-state drive (SSD) controllers and nearline drives deployed in the cloud. Marvell expects the storage business to clock yet another quarter of growth in the mid-teens in Q2 . Given that the cloud storage and the SSD markets are expected to grow at annual rates of 22% and 15%, respectively, Marvell's storage business can keep growing at impressive rates for a long time.
It isn't too late to buy the stock
Marvell's Q2 outlook provides further evidence that this is a high-growth company. It expects $1.06 billion in revenue at the midpoint of its guidance range, up 46% year over year. The adjusted gross margin is expected to increase 70 basis points year over year to 64%. The adjusted earnings of $0.31 per share would be a major improvement over the year-ago period's figure of $0.21. Wall Street was expecting $0.30 per share in earnings on $841 million in revenue.
What's more, analysts expect Marvell to clock annual earnings growth of over 35% over the next five years, handsomely outpacing the 13% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) seen in the last five years. The chipmaker looks well placed to deliver such strong earnings growth in the future thanks to the opportunities it is sitting on, which is why investors looking to add a tech stock benefiting from the 5G rollout and data center investments should consider buying Marvell Technology Group.
