Marvell slips even as Benchmark starts coverage, calls it 'essential' to tech's future
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Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares slipped on Friday as investment firm Benchmark started coverage on the semiconductor company, calling its technology "essential." 
Benchmark analyst Cody Acree put a buy rating and a $70 price target on Marvell (MRVL), implying some 25% upside from current levels, noting that the company's primary focus is on becoming the leader in infrastructure end markets, such as automotive, 5G and cloud.
"Through a process of deep collaboration and transparency, [Marvell] is changing the way tomorrow's enterprise, cloud, automotive, and carrier architectures transform, grow, and improve," Acree wrote in a note to clients.
Marvell (MRVL) shares fell slightly more than 0.5% to $54.24 in premarket trading.
In addition, Acree noted the "mega trends" of cloud computing, 5G, smart autos and borderless enterprises are where Marvell's (MRVL) bread and butter lies, and the company is poised to be a "major beneficiary" of the tech industry's theme of hyper-scaling. 
"Meanwhile the wireless infrastructure revolution continues its rapid rise toward 5G, and Marvell is offering speed and security to networks, with no compromise in performance or capability," Acree added. 
The analyst also noted that as Marvell's (MRVL) exposure to technology infrastructure needs increases, he believes the stock's earnings multiple will increase. Shares trade at roughly 16.5 times expected 2024 earnings of $2.91 per share and that could grow to 24 times earnings.
Earlier this month, investment firm KeyBanc said Marvell (MRVL) is likely to benefit even amid a correction in the semiconductor industry, as the firm sees Marvell making further gains in the cloud and the switching market.