Marvell Technology (MRVL) failed to meet Wall Street's lofty "whisper number" with its sales guidance, disappointing many MRVL stock investors.

Marvell posted a slight beat-and-raise report late Wednesday. The chipmaker earned an adjusted 60 cents a share, up 30% year over year, on sales of $1.82 billion, up 27%, in the quarter ended Feb. 1. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Marvell earnings of 59 cents a share on sales of $1.8 billion.

For the current quarter, Marvell forecast adjusted earnings of 61 cents a share, up 154% year over year, on sales of $1.875 billion, up 62%. Analysts had been modeling earnings of 60 cents a share on sales of $1.865 billion in the fiscal first quarter.

However, the unofficial fiscal Q1 sales bogey was north of $2.1 billion, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Lipacis said in a client note.

Another issue hanging over Marvell is whether it won a contract to make Amazon's (AMZN) next-generation Trainium server processor, he said. Marvell currently makes the Trainium 2 chip for Amazon.

"A key investor debate is whether Marvell or a Taiwan-based competitor (AIchip Technologies) has won the follow-on custom-AI processor chip to Amazon, called Trainium 3," Lipacis said.

At least 16 Wall Street analysts cut their price targets on MRVL stock after Marvell's fiscal Q4 report.

In morning trades on the stock market today, Marvell stock fell nearly 17% to 74.97.

Marvell and other chipmakers exposed to the artificial intelligence megatrend have seen their shares decline this year.

MRVL Stock Drop Called 'Severe'

"Boy, sentiment is rough for AI semis right now," Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes said in a client note. He called the MRVL stock drop "severe."

Reitzes reiterated his buy rating on MRVL stock but slashed his price target to 122 from 188.

Marvell makes semiconductor products for data centers, including server processors, AI accelerators, and networking and storage chips. It also makes chips for enterprise networking, carrier infrastructure, consumer devices, and automotive and industrial applications.

In addition to Amazon, Marvell is making a custom AI processor, called Maia, for Microsoft (MSFT). Plus, it is making a custom central processing unit (CPU) for Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google and a custom network interface controller (NIC) for Meta Platforms (META).

Needham analyst Quinn Bolton kept his buy rating on Marvell stock but cut his price target to 100 from 120.

"Marvell reported an in-line print and guide relative to published numbers, but it seems like investors are satisfied by very little in the current environment," Bolton said in a client note.

MRVL stock is on the IBD Tech Leaders list.

Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.

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