Supermicro reported preliminary financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended September 30. After announcing the results and forecast, as well as the message that the company still could not say when the final report on Form 10-K, which was due on August 29, would be published, Supermicro shares fell 17%, writes CNBC.
Supermicro said its fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings were tentatively pegged at 75 cents to 76 cents per share, ahead of the Wall Street consensus estimate of 73 cents per share. Revenue is also expected to be $5.9–$6 billion, below analysts’ forecast of $6.44 billion, but up 181% from the same quarter a year earlier. Supermicro’s forecast for the second fiscal quarter was below experts’ expectations. Revenue will be $5.5 billion to $6.1 billion, below the average estimate of $6.86 billion among analysts surveyed by LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share will range from 56 cents to 65 cents, compared with analysts’ expectations of 83 cents per share.
Supermicro shares fell sharply last week after accounting firm Ernst & Young refused to work with the company. During a conference call with analysts, the company said it would not discuss issues related to Ernst & Young’s decision or corporate governance. CEO Charles Liang said Supermicro is actively searching for a new auditor.
Supermicro said its board of directors has formed a special committee, headed by an independent lawyer, to look into Hindenburg Research’s allegations. After a three-month investigation, the committee concluded that there was “no evidence of fraud or misconduct” on the part of management. “The committee recommends a number of corrective actions to strengthen internal governance and oversight functions and expects to provide a full progress report this week or next,” the company said.
Supermicro has agreed with Cathay Bank to extend the deadline for submitting financial statements until the end of the year. But the Nasdaq stock exchange requires Supermicro, under threat of delisting, to provide an annual report by November 16, which also affected investor sentiment. The company told analysts Tuesday that it will “take all necessary steps to comply with Nasdaq requirements as quickly as possible.”
Analysts asked on the conference call about a possible change in plans for servers based on NVIDIA Blackwell accelerators, as NVIDIA is rumored to have already begun changing its supply chain, allegedly diverting chips destined for Supermicro to other manufacturers. In response, CFO David Weigand assured that the company has a very strong relationship with the chipmaker, and nothing threatens them: “We currently have several modern projects in the works, and we spoke with NVIDIA, and they confirmed that made no changes to the distribution.”
According to the company, it has increased its production capacity in the United States and is now ready to produce 1.5 thousand racks with life support systems monthly. It already has its own version of the GB200 NVL72, as well as 10U and 4U versions of servers with B200 with air and liquid cooling, respectively. In addition, the company is preparing a new SuperRack with a power of more than 200 kW, which was developed jointly with NVIDIA – with a life support system that will provide PUE close to 1.0. Finally, Supermicro is ready to release servers based on AMD Instinct MI300X/MI325X and Intel Gaudi3. There has also been an increase in interest in DCBBS.