Cerebras Stock Falls After Profit Miss Despite Revenue Beat

Cerebras Systems shares plunged in extended trading on Wednesday, August 12, and continued to fall on Thursday, August 13, after the artificial intelligence chipmaker reported quarterly results that beat revenue expectations but missed significantly on profit, overshadowing a raised full-year outlook. The stock, which had risen 11.6% during regular trading on Wednesday to close at $262.06, dropped over 18% in after-hours trading following the earnings release.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company reported core revenue of $209.9 million for the second quarter, a 74.3% increase year-over-year and above analyst expectations. Growth was driven by a record $127.7 million in cloud and services revenue, which surged 287% as deployments for customers like OpenAI expanded. However, hardware sales, including the company's AI chips, declined to $54.1 million from $70.3 million a year ago. The company also reported a GAAP revenue figure of $180.1 million, which fell below Wall Street's approximate $194 million expectation.

The primary concern for investors was the company's profitability. Cerebras reported a loss of $2.98 per share, missing the consensus estimate for a loss of $0.21 by...