Veteran fund manager makes bold move on Apple, Marvell | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Chris Versace wants to start off the holiday weekend with a blast.

The lead portfolio manager for TheStreet Pro Portfolio gave readers an update on chipmaker Marvell Technology (MRVL) and computer giant Apple (AAPL) .

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Versace said Marvell shares moved lower, following a report from The Information that said Microsoft (MSFT) intends to release its most powerful in-house AI chips in 2028 or beyond as it focuses on chips it can better develop in the interim.

The report also suggested Microsoft has pushed back the release of its Maia 200 chipset to 2026 from 2025, he said.

“The move lower in MRVL shares reflects that pushout, but while Microsoft is a custom AI silicon partner for Marvell, so too are Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META) , and as we learned at the company’s recent event, multiple up-and-coming hyperscalers as well,” he said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s company will report earnings in a few weeks . (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Marvell’s larger story still intact

Marvell hosted a “Custom AI” Investor Event on June 17 in New York where the company boosted its total available market to $94 billion by 2028, up 25% higher than the $75 billion by 2028 it outlined this time last year

Following the pronounced run in Marvell shares, Versace said, “the same one that led us to bank some of that big move, we are not surprised that The Information’s report dinged Marvell shares.”

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“For us, the larger story is very much intact,” he said. “While the Portfolio has a full position, if the shares pulled back a bit further to the $70 level, that would fill a modest gap in the chart, and be a nice pick-up point given our $115 target.”

Marvell is slated to report second quarter results next month. Shares are down 32% this year.

Last month, B. Riley raised the firm’s price target on Marvell to $115 from $110 and kept a buy rating on the shares following the company’s custom AI investor webcast, according to The Fly.

The firm said that it believes the update shows a “strong” next-generation AI growth inflection for Marvell.

Turning to Apple, Versace noted that the computer giant’s shares have been climbing recently, which is likely due to reports the company is weighing the benefits of using AI technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power its long-awaited upgrade to Siri, rather than leaning on in-house solutions.

Apple has had discussions with both companies about using their large language models for Siri, asking them to train versions that could run on Apple’s cloud infrastructure for testing, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.

In March, Apple said AI improvements to its voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, without giving a reason for the setback.

Fund manager: Apple tight-lipped on earnings calls

Apple shook up its executive ranks to get its AI efforts back on track after months of delays, with Mike Rockwell taking charge of Siri, as CEO Tim Cook lost confidence in AI head John Giannandrea’s ability to execute on product development, Bloomberg reported at the time.

“We will want to see how this plays out, but should Apple decide to use one of those, it would likely accelerate the delivery of a more useful and smarter Siri,” Versace said. “That would potentially charge up the iPhone upgrade cycle to newer models, a nice revenue driver for Apple.”

Apple is scheduled to report third quarter results on July 31 and Versace said that, while the company is normally tight-lipped on its earnings calls, “odds are we will get some questions about this during the Q&A on its June quarter conference call.”

“We will be listening to see what is said,” he said.

Separately, Jefferies analyst Edison Lee upgraded Apple to hold from underperform with a price target of $188.32, up from $170.62.

Counterpoint reported global iPhone’s sales volume in April plus May was up 15% year-over-year, marking the strongest growth since Q3 of 2021.

Tariff-driven pull-in demand and share recovery in China could drive June quarter revenue and EPS growth of about 8% and 10%, respectively, which would be roughly 5% and 9%, respectively, greater than consensus and greater than Apple’s low-single digit revenue growth guidance, the analyst added while previewing fiscal Q3 results.

While the market’s benign view on tariffs is “likely overly optimistic,” and Apple’s service revenue has downside potential, Lee said, good Q3 results “could keep the stock stable” near-term.

Meanwhile, Versace is tracking President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and the July 9 tariff deadline.

“While we would like to see some of those uncertainties removed, the details for both will matter,” he said. “Once we know them, we’ll be better able to plot our moves.”