Cerebras stock plunges after earnings as CEO says margin outlook was misunderstood

Cerebras Systems shares plunged nearly 20% on Wednesday after the AI chipmaker forecast a narrower gross margin of 38% to 41% for the full year, compared to 47% in Q1, despite beating first-quarter earnings estimates with revenue up 94% year-over-year. CEO Andrew Feldman said investors misunderstood the margin outlook, attributing the decline to a temporary decision to rent back equipment from a major customer to accelerate capacity deployment.

Shares of Cerebras Systems dropped almost 20% on Wednesday, even after the company delivered better-than-expected first-quarter earnings https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2021728/000162828026044941/cbrsannouncesfinancialresu.htm on Tuesday. That’s because in its first earnings report since going public, the AI chipmaker forecast a narrower gross margin in its core business, guiding for a full-year margin of 38% to 41%, compared with the 47% reported in the first quarter. The stock hit a new low on Wednesday, almost hitting the company’s IPO price. Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman told CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/24/cerebras-cbrs-stock-earnings.html that investors had misunderstood the company’s margin guidance, noting that Cerebras will need to rent back some equipment from one of its largest customers. The company said during its earnings call https://seekingalpha.com/article/4917476-cerebras-systems-inc-cbrs-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript that it decided to make more capacity available sooner by temporarily renting its own systems back from an existing customer while it builds out and deploys its own data center capacity. The company said this would cut into profit margins this year. According to the company’s earnings report, revenue for the quarter reached $193 million, up 94% year-over-year. Net loss narrowed to $14 million, down from $23.9 million a year earlier.