Marvell just got absolutely steamrolled by Wall Street, dropping nearly 18% in a single trading session. And no, it wasn’t because they missed earnings—because they didn’t. In fact, they actually hit expectations dead-on. But in today’s AI-fueled mania, just showing up to the game isn’t enough. Investors want moonshot numbers, and Marvell delivered… well, a decent effort.

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, revenue for the quarter came in at $1.82 billion, barely edging out the $1.80 billion analysts were expecting. Adjusted earnings per share landed at 60 cents, squeaking past predictions by a single cent. Even first-quarter guidance—$1.88 billion—was technically ahead of the $1.87 billion expectation. But here’s the problem: some of the more bullish projections were whispering about $2 billion in revenue, and Marvell didn't come close to that. Rookie mistake not factoring in investors' imaginary expectations LOL. 

(Source: Guru Focus) 

Of course, it didn’t necessarily ease the bloodbath when analysts and investors realized that one of Marvell’s biggest AI partnerships—its deal with Amazon Web Services—might be on loose ground. ICYMI, Marvell had secured a contract to supply AWS with its Trainium AI chips, but now Amazon is reportedly working on developing Trainium 3 in-house. In other words, Marvell might be getting cut out of the equation. Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley summed it up best when he pointed out that while the company still looks strong in the long run, it simply didn’t meet the high bar set by the rest of Amazon’s AI supply chain. And in a market that’s currently rewarding only the absolute best, “good” is starting to feel dangerously close to “bad.”

(Source: Bloomberg) 

So naturally, analysts wasted no time hitting the “yeet” button. Needham’s N. Quinn Bolton kept a Buy rating but slashed his price target from $120 to $100, making it clear that just “meeting expectations” isn’t cutting it anymore. Citi’s Atif Malik also lowered his target, warning that investors may have gotten a little too excited about AI-related growth in the near term. Meanwhile, Summit Insights Group’s Kinngchai Chan went straight for the downgrade, cutting Marvell to Hold and arguing that the company simply doesn’t have the financial flexibility to navigate AI-related volatility as smoothly as some of its bigger competitors. Savage. 

Now, while Marvell is getting all of the rotten tomatoes at the moment, let’s all take a calm, collective breath on the real meat of the story here: It ain’t Marvell’s sh*t show, it’s everyone fueling the AI hype’s sh*t show. I’ve said this plenty of times before, but I’ll say it again—Investors have been throwing money at anything AI-related for the past year, sending stocks into the stratosphere. But now? The market is demanding proof that this growth is actually sustainable. Nvidia, Broadcom, and Taiwan Semiconductor all tumbled alongside Marvell, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF sliding 4% as the entire sector took a hit. Coincidence? I think not.

(Source: Giphy) 

In the end, the bottom line here is brutal but simple: AI stocks have no room for error. Marvell isn’t a bad company—far from it. They’re still projecting $2.5 billion in AI revenue for fiscal 2026. But when expectations are so damn high, you’ll get punished if you’re not completely obliterating estimates. And today, Marvell just learned that the hard way.

For now though, everyone is bleeding, not just Marvell investors—meaning regardless if you were in the “direct annihilation zone” today, everyone is feeling the pain. So take this as a lesson to place your bets accordingly, and maybe, just maybe stay cautious while everyone is throwing money around like a 2008 Goldman Sachs trader. As always, stay safe and stay frosty, friends! Until next time…

P.S. $1.4 million, $1.02 million, and $6.715 million—these aren’t lottery winnings or Miami real estate prices… they’re all insider transactions that have gone down in the last week while retail investors were busy panic-selling everything. Want to track these corporate fat cats in real-time so you can pretend you're also an executive with material nonpublic information? (Legally, of course.) Click here to join Stocks.News premium while you still can…

Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon as mentioned in the article.