Stocks have had a turbulent week, but they're looking to head into the weekend on a positive note. After a big jump on Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.11%) appeared likely to rise again Friday morning, with index futures rising nearly half a percent in premarket trading.
Indeed, a pair of Nasdaq-listed artificial intelligence (AI) stocks played an instrumental role in keeping the rally going. Both Marvell Technology (MRVL 1.21%) and Workday (WDAY 0.52%) posted solid gains after releasing their latest financial results, and both companies mentioned artificial intelligence as a key driver in their future prospects.
Marvell follows its peers higher
Shares of Marvell Technology were up 18% in premarket trading. That move followed an 8% rise in the stock on Thursday, and it came after the chipmaker's fiscal first-quarter report for the period ended April 29 included all the right things about the promise of AI for its business.
Like those of its industry peers, Marvell's numbers weren't all that attractive on their face. Revenue of $1.322 billion was down almost 9% year over year. Net losses widened slightly to $169 million, working out to $0.20 per share. On an adjusted basis, Marvell's earnings of $0.31 per share were somewhat better than expected, but even that number was down 40% from year-ago levels.
Surprisingly, Marvell's guidance didn't include nearly the step-up that investors saw from other semiconductor manufacturers. The company still believes its fiscal second-quarter revenue will be around the $1.33 billion mark, and earnings are likely to stay stagnant from first-quarter levels.
However, CEO Matt Murphy said that Marvell sees AI revenue doubling in the current fiscal year, and that was the runway to growth that shareholders wanted to see. Now, Marvell will have to make good on its promises and find ways to grow at least as quickly as its more massive industry peers -- or position itself as an acquisition candidate for those chip giants looking to get even bigger.
Workday touts its AI experience
Also gaining ground, shares of Workday were 9% higher in premarket trading. The finance and HR cloud software company posted solid growth for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, and it sees plenty of upside from artificial intelligence applications in the years to come.
Workday's financial results held up well. Revenue rose 17% year over year to $1.68 billion on a 20% jump in subscription revenue. Backlog figures were higher by 32% to $16.65 billion, working out to nearly three years' worth of sales at the company's current subscription revenue rate. Adjusted earnings jumped 58% to $1.31 per share.
Workday took an interesting two-pronged approach to addressing AI. On one hand, co-founder and co-CEO Aneel Bhusri emphasized the company's prowess in technology, noting that Workday has "been delivering AI and ML [machine learning] capabilities for nearly a decade" and that its management team members "remain committed to innovation and infusing AI and ML across our entire product portfolio." Yet both Bhusri and fellow co-CEO Carl Eschenbach also stressed the human element of its business, with Eschenbach saying that clients rely on Workday "as the intelligent digital backbone supporting their most critical assets: people and money."
In light of a strong start to the fiscal year, Workday increased the lower end of its previous full-year revenue guidance, expecting roughly 18% growth for fiscal 2024. That's not lightning-fast expansion, but in challenging economic conditions, it seemed to be enough for Workday shareholders to get behind the company and its future prospects.
