Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares rose on Thursday after Barclays upgraded the stock and raised its price target, signaling renewed confidence in the company’s growth drivers.

Optical Demand Drives Upgrade

Analyst Tom O’Malley upgraded Marvell to Overweight from Equalweight and raised the price target to $150 from $105, citing a stronger outlook for optical demand.

O’Malley said channel checks point to optical port demand doubling in 2026 and again in 2027. Based on the firm’s estimates, optical revenue could rise roughly 90% for Marvell Technology over the next two years, even after factoring in potential share gains by Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO).

He noted that improving optical trends mark a key shift from prior concerns around Trainium share losses and 1.6T DSP issues that had weighed on the stock in late 2025.

Earnings Scenario Highlights Upside Potential

He also outlined a conservative scenario in which Marvell could reach about $5 in earnings, even excluding Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), assuming no growth from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and lower XPU attach rates. However, he said the firm does not support those assumptions.

Technical Analysis

At $121.21, Marvell is trading 26.1% above its 20-day simple moving average (SMA), the stock’s average price over the last 20 sessions, which suggests strong short-term upside pressure. It’s also 40.4% above its 100-day SMA, indicating the intermediate trend is still pointed higher.

The relative strength index (RSI), a momentum gauge, is 72.42, which is overbought (triggered April 8), suggesting upside momentum is strong but increasingly stretched. The golden cross in October (50-day SMA moving above the 200-day SMA) supports the idea that the longer-term trend has been in buyers’ control.

  • Key Resistance: $121.00 — a round-number area where breakouts can be retested.
  • Key Support: $96.00 — near the 20-day SMA zone where dip-buyers have recently been rewarded.

Earnings & Analyst Outlook

Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the May 28, 2026 (estimated) earnings report.

  • EPS Estimate: 72 cents (Up from 62 cents YoY)
  • Revenue Estimate: $2.40 Billion (Up from $1.90 Billion YoY)
  • Valuation: P/E of 37.3x (Indicates premium valuation relative to peers)

Top ETF Exposure

  • iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX): 5.17% Weight
  • iShares Future AI & Tech ETF (NYSE:ARTY): 4.59% Weight
  • SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:XSD): 3.28% Weight

Significance: Because MRVL carries significant weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows will likely trigger automatic buying or selling of the stock.

Price Action

MRVL Price Action: Marvell Technology shares were up 4.31% at $119.38 at the time of publication on Thursday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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