Marvell Technology Group's (MRVL 3.17%) fiscal 2022 second-quarter results turned out to be better than expected thanks to impressive growth across all of its business segments. The data center, carrier infrastructure, and the enterprise networking businesses stood out in particular, which wasn't surprising as Marvell is benefiting from a bunch of catalysts in these areas, such as the rollout of 5G networks, the need for faster networking solutions, and an increase in data center storage.
Marvell's guidance was also robust, indicating that it has more upside to offer.
Let's look closely at Marvell's performance last quarter and see why this tech stock is built for further gains.
Marvell Technology Group's Q2 results point toward better times
Marvell's Q2 revenue increased 48% year over year to $1.08 billion, while adjusted net income increased to $0.34 per share from $0.21 in the year-ago period. The company's adjusted gross margin increased 150 basis points year over year to 64.8% during the quarter, helping Marvell comfortably beat the consensus estimate of $0.31 per share. Additionally, the robust demand across all of Marvell's end markets helped it exceed the midpoint of its revenue guidance and beat the Wall Street estimate of $1.07 billion.
Marvell expects $1.14 billion in revenue and $0.38 per share in adjusted earnings this quarter at the midpoint of its range. The company generated $0.25 per share in adjusted earnings on revenue of $750 million in the prior-year period. The substantial increases in management's guidance across the board indicate that Marvell is on track to deliver outstanding growth once again.
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The Inphi acquisition plays a critical role in Marvell's growth prospects. That's particularly true in the data center segment, which recorded 62% year-over-year revenue growth to $434 million and produced 40% of the top line. The chipmaker had spent $10 billion to acquire high-speed networking chip designer Inphi earlier this year to bolster its presence in the data center, 5G, and automotive markets.
When Marvell announced the Inphi acquisition in October last year, it pointed out that the acquisition will expand its addressable market to $23 billion. Additionally, Marvell said that Inphi would accelerate its addressable market's growth to an annual rate of 12%. Marvell is now witnessing tremendous momentum in the data center business, and the good part is that it expects the segment to pick up the pace through 2025.
Management points out that the company has scored "significant design wins" in the data center sector with multiple cloud customers. It also expects to win more market share in this space going forward. All of this is not surprising as Marvell is pursuing fast-growing opportunities in the data center market such as data processing units and data center interconnect.
The DCI market, for instance, is expected to clock an annual growth rate of over 12% through 2026 as per a third-party estimate. The DPU market, on the other hand, is another fast-growing niche that could become big in the long run. And considering Marvell's design wins could lead to more market share in the cloud computing space, the growth in its largest end market could get substantially better in the long run.
More reasons to buy
The carrier infrastructure market is another important growth driver for Marvell. It accounted for 18% of Marvell's total revenue last quarter, recording 39% year-over-year revenue growth. Management pointed out that the segment benefited from the "ongoing deployments of 5G as well as product ramps at Samsung and Nokia." Just like data centers, the carrier business is also on track to get better as Marvell has recorded new design wins to supply custom base station chips to three major telecom customers.
With 5G networks rolling out across the globe, Marvell's telecom carrier business is expected to step on the gas in the second half of the year. And, with demand for 5G infrastructure reportedly growing at 95% a year, Marvell's carrier infrastructure business could enjoy a long spell of high growth.
Thanks to all these tailwinds, analysts are upbeat about Marvell's prospects. They expect the company's earnings to grow at an annual pace of over 36% for the next five years and remain a top growth stock that could soar higher.
