Market Minute: Earnings Previews: MRVL, OKTA, CRM

There’s a couple of big earnings after the bell today, let’s take a quick look at what to watch for in Marvell (MRVL), Okta (OKTA), and Salesforce (CRM). 

Marvell develops and produces semiconductors, and although it’s not as big a player as Nvidia (NVDA) or AMD (AMD), the A.I. effect has still pushed shares up over 60% this year. Zacks estimates EPS of $2.43 and revenue of $9.34 billion, a growth of 15% and 7%, respectively. Barron’s writes that Marvell is “starting to make custom A.I. chips for Amazon and other hyperscalers,” so the company appears to be finding its niche in the booming demand. Investors will likely be watching A.I.-related guidance, demand forecast, and manufacturing capacity. The implied move for shares is around $8.50. 

Okta, which makes user authentication software and other digital identity-related endeavors, has a Zacks estimate of $0.57 EPS and $649.4 million revenue (30% and 11% growth respectively). Cybersecurity continues to be a major issue for everyone from governments to corporations large and small, but note that Morgan Stanley reports competitors like CrowdStrike (CRWD) and Palo Alto (PANW) are discounting their offerings to gain market share. However, Morgan Stanley did upgrade Okta to Overweight and raised its price target yesterday ahead of its report. Investors will look to 2025 guidance and any price discounting announcements. The stock is down 10% year-to-date, with an implied move of about $3. 

Salesforce (CRM) is a behemoth offering a cloud-based sales & marketing platform. Zacks expects it to post EPS of $2.43 and revenue of $9.34 billion, up 15% and 7% respectively. The company recently launched “Agentforce Testing Center,” which is meant to manage A.I. agents – for example, testing whether their responses are accurate. This groundbreaking tool could be a major catalyst for its business; because it launched in November, it won’t show up in the report today, but investors will be watching for A.I.-related guidance. Shares are up about 26% year-to-date, with an implied move of $21. 

Tune into the Schwab Network for earnings breakdowns and more!