Super Micro Computer shares jumped 18% in extended trading on Tuesday after the server maker issued strong guidance, although revenue for its fiscal third quarter came in below estimates.
Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: 84 cents adjusted vs. 62 cents expected
- Revenue: $10.24 billion vs. $12.33 billion expected
Revenue jumped 123% year over year in the quarter, which ended on March 31, according to a statement.
Customer readiness caused delays in recognizing revenue during the quarter, CEO Charles Liang told analysts on a conference call.
“Several customers were not yet equipped with the power and networking required for their cloud deployment, and we expect to capture this revenue in the coming quarters,” he said.
Industrywide supply constraints also cut into results, said David Weigand, Super Micro’s finance chief.
Memory prices have shot up, while there are shortages of graphics processing units and Intel processors, Liang said.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, management called for 65 cents to 79 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $11 billion to $12.5 billion in revenue. The LSEG consensus was for earnings of 55 cents per share and $11.07 billion in revenue.
Super Micro has carved out a position in the artificial intelligence boom, selling servers that are packed with Nvidia’s graphics processing units. However, the company has been beset by other challenges.
During the quarter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged associates of an unidentified U.S. server maker with illegally diverting billions of dollars in Nvidia-powered servers to China. The indictment did not name Super Micro, but the company said one defendant was a co-founder and executive, another was a manager and the third was a contractor.
Liang told investors in March, “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.” Wally Liaw, the co-founder and executive described in the indictment, no longer has any relationship to the company and left the board, Liang wrote.
Executives don’t believe they will need to restate results following the indictment, Weigand said.
Rather than being shaken by the episode, most customers seem to be solidly committed to and growing business with Super Micro, Liang said.
“At this moment, I personally don’t feel a negative feeling,” he said. Relationships with Broadcom, Nvidia and other partners remain healthy, he said.
As of Tuesday’s close, Super Micro shares were down about 5% for the year, while the S&P 500 had gained 6% in the same period.
In the earnings statement on Tuesday, Liang said that Super Micro has added new manufacturing facilities in Silicon Valley, and that the company is “exceptionally well-positioned to meet the massive demand for various AI and enterprise verticals.”
Super Micro said in April that its fourth Bay Area location will exceed 714,000 square feet, with space for manufacturing, design, testing and service.
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