UPDATE: J.P. Morgan Downgrades Marvell Technology Group to Neutral, Lowers PT

In a report published Friday, J.P. Morgan & Co. downgraded its rating on Marvell Technology Group MRVL from Overweight to Neutral, and lowered its price target from $16.00 to $10.00. J.P. Morgan noted, “We are downgrading MRVL to Neutral from Overweight. Our OW thesis had been predicated on our expectations for sustainable long-term growth driven by stable expansion in its storage business (~45-50% of sales) and market share gains in mobile/wireless (~25-30%). Unfortunately, this scenario has not played out over the past 2.5 years, with revenues down 5% and non-GAAP EPS down 37% since we initiated on the stock in Feb-2010. MRVL has significantly underperformed its peers and the SOX index over this period. We believe near- to medium-term growth for the company is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of sluggish HDD demand and larger-than-expected share losses in TDphones.” Marvell Technology Group closed on Thursday at $8.83.