Super Micro jumps 18% as AI outlook eases revenue miss fears

Super Micro Computer’s shares rallied 18% in extended trading on Tuesday after releasing its Q3 guidance for its fiscal year 2026. However, the company’s revenue for the quarter technically fell short of high-end estimates, though ultimately solid. 

Super Micro missed its revenue mark by about $2 billion, but investors were happy to see earnings beat expectations by 22 cents per share.

As per the breakdown, revenue came in soft at $10.24 billion, short of the $12.33 billion estimate. Earnings per share, on the other hand, settled at an impressive 84 cents.

CEO Charles Liang chalked up the revenue miss to customer readiness, noting they lacked the power and networking needed for their cloud deployment. However, he remains optimistic that they will recoup the missed revenue down the road. 

David Weigand, finance lead at Super Micro, also explained that supply chain hiccups and augmented memory prices contributed to the lower revenue numbers.

What drove the stock higher was not the backward-looking revenue miss, but forward guidance tied to surging AI infrastructure demand. Super Micro issued an outlook that topped market expectations, pairing stronger projected sales with upbeat earnings guidance.

Super Micro believes it could earn over $12 billion in its fiscal Q4 2026

Despite missing the target, overall, Super Micro’s revenue jumped 123% year over year in its fiscal Q3 2026. CEO Liang also noted that their total data center strategy is really picking up steam.

He asserted, “Our margin recovery and the rapid growth of our DCBBS business demonstrate that our business remains robust,” adding that they could soon satisfy the strong demand from AI and enterprise customers.

Per the Q3 guidance, Super Micro’s profitability also took a massive leap, with gross margins landing at 10.1%, blowing past Wall Street’s 6.75% estimate.

The firm predicts it could secure net sales of $11.0 billion and $12.5 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 ending June 30, 2026.

The company’s forecast also puts its adjusted earnings somewhere in the 65-cent to 79-cent range. The top brass is basing these per-share predictions on a tax rate of about 19.4% (GAAP) and 20.4% (non-GAAP), using a share count of up to 712 million.

Moreover, the company is still betting big on AI demand, though it shifted its yearly revenue target from over $40 billion to a range starting at $38.9 billion.

Super Micro’s co-founder was indicted for illegal shipment of Nvidia-powered servers

More recently, however, the firm has been embroiled in several controversies. As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York alleged that individuals tied to a U.S. server maker illegally shipped billions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia-powered servers to China.

Super Micro wasn’t named directly in the indictment, but the company admitted that the defendants included an executive co-founder, a manager, and a contractor. 

According to prosecutors, SuperMicro’s co-founder, Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, masterminded a plan to dupe auditors with thousands of dummy servers, allegedly using hair dryers to sneak labels off boxes meant for China.

Nevertheless, so far, the company has appeared to disassociate itself from the prosecutors’ findings. Earlier this year, Liang had remarked, “It appears that Supermicro has been a victim of the elaborate schemes orchestrated by these individuals, which deceived both federal authorities and our internal compliance team.” 

He further stated that Wally Liaw is no longer affiliated with the company and has stepped down from the board. Nonetheless, he’s offered to cooperate with the authorities and announced an internal investigation led by the board’s lead independent director, Scott Angel, and board audit chair Tally Liu.

Brian Burke, a board advisor, cautioned, however, that internal investigation findings could disrupt the company’s value and staff makeup. 

More recently, though, Liang contended that most clients are still loyal to the firm, despite the case. “At this moment, I personally don’t feel a negative feeling,” he said, adding that they still have strong relationships with Broadcom and Nvidia.

The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.