Investors in Marvell Technology (MRVL -7.21%) have seen quite the volatility over the past few months. It is currently trending downward and it's is off about 34% from its all-time high, at the time of this writing. However, its current price exceeds where the stock was at the end of May, so this sell-off isn't giving up that many weeks of performance.
The question now is whether Marvell is a smart buy on the dip or if there are better options out there. Let's see if this makes it a buy now, or if investors would be better off sticking with other artificial intelligence (AI) picks.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Marvell has a bright future, but is it enough?
Marvell has two primary business units that investors are fixated on. First is its networking equipment, which helps direct the flow of information around a data center. The second is its custom AI chips, which are designed around workloads that the clients ordering them are seeing. If that sounds like a familiar business analysis, that's because it's similar to Broadcom, which has basically the same business model (with some other offerings as well). That makes it a perfect comparison for Marvell stock.
NASDAQ: MRVL
Key Data Points
Marvell's custom AI chip customers include Microsoft and Amazon, two heavyweights in the cloud computing world. On the flip side, Broadcom claims Alphabet, Meta Platforms, OpenAI, and Anthropic as clients. While the names of these clients are comparable, Broadcom's clients have been more aggressive in ordering custom AI chips, leading to great revenue.
This shows up in projections -- Marvell's aren't nearly as aggressive as Broadcom's. Wall Street analysts expect 41% revenue growth this fiscal year, and 45% next year, with next year's overall revenue totaling $16.7 billion. Analysts expect 66% growth this year and 63% next year for Broadcom, with its revenue reaching $172 billion. That's a major size and performance advantage for Broadcom, yet its stock is valued far lower.
AVGO PE Ratio (Forward); data by YCharts; PE = price to earnings.
So, with Broadcom having much higher expectations, yet trading at a far cheaper price tag, I think investors should be less focused on Marvell Technology and more focused on Broadcom. It's the better stock pick in terms of client base, outlook, and valuation, and easily makes for the better investment.
While Marvell Technology is still a great company and may turn out to be a strong performer, I think it has a long way to go before being comparable to Broadcom.
