Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL) is only a few hours away from its fiscal second-quarter earnings report, and investors are entering the event with lofty expectations. The stock has gained about 30% during August and 188% since the start of 2026, putting MRVL among this year's biggest semiconductor winners. After such a run, Thursday evening's report needs to give Wall Street another reason to believe that substantial gains remain possible.

Much of the enthusiasm comes from Marvell's growing exposure to hyperscaler AI spending. Investors have become more bullish on the company as Amazon's Trainium program ramps and Microsoft's Maia project moves forward, while this month's expanded agreement with Google added another boost. The Google partnership was particularly important, giving the market greater confidence that Marvell can win more custom-chip work from some of the world's largest cloud companies.

JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur, who ranks among the top 1% of Wall Street analysts, remains bullish heading into the report. Sur calls Marvell "one of our top picks within our semis coverage," arguing that developments during the past three months have made the investment case more compelling. In particular, Sur sees Marvell becoming a more important silicon partner for cloud giants seeking customized chips and supporting components for their expanding computing infrastructure.

For the quarter about to be reported, Sur expects results to land around Wall Street forecasts or somewhat above them. Demand remains healthy for 800G and 1.6T optical DSP products, switching adoption continues to improve, while Amazon's next-generation Trainium 3 processor has begun its initial production ramp. Those factors give the analyst confidence that Marvell can deliver solid numbers without requiring an unexpected contribution from any single product category.

Sur appears more enthusiastic about what management could say regarding the current quarter. The analyst expects Marvell to provide a "strong F3Q27 (Oct-qtr) revenue guide," potentially reaching $3.1 billion compared with the Street's $3.03 billion estimate. Such an outlook would represent sequential sales growth of 13% to 14%, while data center revenue could rise between 16% and 18%. Trainium 3 volumes should become more meaningful during this period, accompanied by healthy optical demand, greater switching adoption, and further progress involving Microsoft's Maia program.

The longer-term opportunity gives Sur another reason to remain positive on MRVL shares. The analyst says his "confidence in the breadth and durability of MRVL's AI data center growth drivers has strengthened" during the past 90 days. He sees several potential contributors working together, including optical DSPs, Teralynx 10 switching, storage and CXL controllers, Trainium 3 volumes, Maia development, plus a widening pipeline of supporting chips used alongside accelerators.

Google adds another dimension to that outlook, particularly as Marvell expands its role in silicon surrounding AI accelerators. Sur believes the partnership is "further validating the scale of MRVL's attach-silicon opportunity beyond core XPU ASICs." The analyst therefore sees room for the company to capture more semiconductor spending surrounding AI processors, including networking, connectivity, storage, and other supporting technologies required inside hyperscale data centers.

Putting everything together, Sur sees "meaningful upside from current levels," assigning the stock an Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating. (To watch Sur's track record, click here)

Wall Street broadly shares JPMorgan's optimism toward Marvell heading into earnings. MRVL holds a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 27 analyst recommendations, including 23 Buys and four Holds. With shares priced at $245, the $295.42 average price target implies about 20% upside over the next 12 months. (See MRVL stock forecast)