Data center specialist Super Micro Computer late Tuesday beat estimates for earnings in its fiscal third quarter but sales came in light. However, its guidance for the current period was well above views. SMCI stock fell in extended trading.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company earned an adjusted $6.65 a share on sales of $3.85 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $5.74 a share on sales of $3.96 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Super Micro earnings rocketed 308% while sales jumped 201%.
Super Micro's sales have surged as hyperscale cloud computing companies ramp up investments in infrastructure for artificial intelligence applications.
For the current quarter, Super Micro forecast adjusted earnings of $8.02 a share on sales of $5.3 billion. Wall Street was modeling earnings of $7.13 a share on sales of $4.86 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter. In the year-earlier period, Super Micro earned an adjusted $3.51 a share on sales of $2.18 billion.
SMCI Stock Falls After Report
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, SMCI stock slid more than 7% to 794. During the regular session Tuesday, SMCI stock fell 3.5% to close at 858.80.
Strong demand for AI servers coupled with the company's innovative liquid-cooled designs are fueling growth at Super Micro, Chief Executive Charles Liang said in a news release.
"As new solutions ramp, including fully production-ready DLC (direct liquid cooling), we expect to continue gaining market share," Liang said.
SMCI stock ranks first out of 15 stocks in IBD's computer hardware industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. Super Micro has a best-possible IBD Composite Rating of 99.
Further, SMCI stock is on two IBD lists: Big Cap 20 and Tech Leaders.
Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.