Cerebras Stock Is Up 11% Since Its IPO. Is It a Buy?

Cerebras (NASDAQ: CBRS), a producer of AI chips, went public at $185 per share on May 14. Its stock opened at $350, but it now trades at about $205. That's still 11% above its IPO price, but investors who chased its post-IPO gains are now underwater. Let's see why Cerebras' stock fizzled out -- and if it's worth buying today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »

What does Cerebras do?

Cerebras doesn't produce small GPUs like Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Instead, it builds massive AI processors on a single silicon wafer without cutting them into individual chips. Cerebras chips are as big as dinner plates, while Nvidia's GPUs are the size of postage stamps.

Cerebras claims its bigger chips bypass the networking bottlenecks, data latency, and power constraints associated with connecting traditional GPU clusters. They also outperformed traditional GPU clusters in inference tasks (when applications accessed trained data). It generates its revenue by selling its wafer-scale processors and CS-3 systems, as well as providing customers with cloud-based access to its own wafers to run inference tasks.

Cerebras recently secured a multi-year $20 billion deal with OpenAI to deploy 750 megawatts of its wafer-scale inference systems. It's also integrating its CS-3 systems into Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud infrastructure platform.

How fast is Cerebras growing?

Cerebras' core revenue (which excludes its "pass-through" revenue for passing the utility, power, and real estate costs paid by its customers to its data center landlords) surged 76% to $510 million in 2025. It expects that figure to rise 68%-70% to $855-$865 million in 2026.

Cerebras also has a backlog of $25 billion, which guarantees that its revenue will keep rising for the foreseeable future. However, its gross margins are shrinking because it's renting back some computing capacity from its own customers as it builds its own data centers. That pressure should ease as it expands its first-party infrastructure, but it will likely remain unprofitable.

With a market cap of $46.4 billion, Cerebras trades at 54 times this year's sales. But it also trades at just six times its projected revenue of $7.32 billion in 2028 -- which would represent a 143% three-year CAGR from 2025. Analysts also expect its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to turn positive in 2027 and 2028.

Is Cerebras' stock worth buying?

Cerebras' strategy of building plate-sized chips and renting out its processing power sounds wild, but its massive backlog indicates it's on the right track. Its stock will remain volatile in this choppy market, but it's worth accumulating as a long-term play on the booming AI market.

Leo Sun has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.