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Three tech stocks got Wall Street upgrades last week: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR), and Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL). Marvell has climbed 224% year to date, while Palantir is up 17% and Microsoft has trailed the S&P 500's 14% gain.
All three have solid catalysts and could be solid long-term investments, but Marvell offers the best growth for the price.
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On Oct. 5, Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes upgraded Microsoft from hold to buy with a $665 price target. That implies about 25% upside from the current share price.
With growing concerns around AI safety, the analyst sees Microsoft's cybersecurity offerings benefiting from the adoption of AI agents. On the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call in July, CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the advantages of Agent 365. It extends security tools to AI agents, and nearly 40 million agents are already registered on the platform, reflecting the advantage Microsoft has from its long-running relationships with leading enterprises.
Azure, the cloud backbone for Microsoft's AI services, continues to benefit from surging demand. Revenue from Azure and other cloud services grew 43% year over year in fiscal Q4 2026, which ended in June, and management said demand still exceeds capacity.
The stock trades at 27 times forward earnings, based on fiscal 2027 estimates. The consensus analyst estimate is for earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 15% in the coming years. That's a reasonable price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) multiple of 1.8x.
The main risk is that growth depends on how quickly Microsoft can add data center capacity, a process that requires heavy spending and could drag on margins and earnings. Still, a slightly higher P/E and continued growth in the business put the $665 price target within realistic reach over the next year, with more gains in store for investors who hold for the long term.
On Oct. 8, Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges upgraded Palantir from neutral to buy with a $230 price target. That implies about 10% upside from the current share price.
Palantir shares have surged about 65% in the last three months, but the analyst sees further upside as companies seek to control their own data and AI models. That should increase demand for Palantir's custom-built applications with each enterprise customer.
This builds on the trends Palantir is already seeing. Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) lets companies build and run AI models using their proprietary data. That is one of the main factors that appeals to prospective customers who want full control over their data and don't want it used to train another company's AI models.
Management's full-year 2026 guidance calls for revenue of approximately $8.1 billion, up about 82% from 2025. Analysts expect 53% annualized earnings growth in the coming years. However, it trades at a forward earnings multiple of 123 -- a PEG multiple of 2.3x. I hold Palantir in my portfolio, but I don't expect it to hit the analyst's price target in the near term. Marvell offers a better valuation relative to expected growth.
If I were adding new money to any of the three right now, it would be Marvell. On Oct. 7, TD Cowen analyst Sean O'Loughlin upgraded Marvell from hold to buy with a $350 price target. That implies about 27% upside from the current share price.
The upgrade follows Marvell's Investor Day on Oct. 6, 2026, where management highlighted the momentum in its connectivity business -- the chips and optics that move data inside AI data centers. O'Loughlin sees the risk around its custom chip business fading. These risks centered on the low margins custom chips produce and Marvell's dependence on selling these chips to a few customers.
During the investor day conference, CEO Matt Murphy raised the company's fiscal 2028 revenue outlook to about $20 billion. He said the shift from AI training to inference and the use of agents will drive greater demand for connectivity equipment, with optics already accelerating, backing up the analyst's thesis.
Marvell is also positioned to capture a growing share of AI infrastructure spending with its custom silicon business. These are chips designed for specific tasks, such as cloud giants' AI workloads. That business is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in revenue in 2025 to $12 billion by fiscal 2029.
The stock trades at 65 times 2027 earnings estimates, with analysts expecting 49% annualized earnings growth in the next several years. Marvell offers the lowest PEG ratio of the three at 1.3x. This could support the stock reaching the analyst's price target over the next year, while also setting up the potential for excellent returns for an investor who buys today and holds for the long term.
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John Ballard has positions in Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Goldman Sachs Group, Marvell Technology, Microsoft, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
3 Tech Stocks Wall Street Upgraded Last Week, and the One I'd Buy First was originally published by The Motley Fool
