This week, SMCI climbed on positive reports from the AI server maker. Super Micro surged 16% Monday after the company released numbers showing strong demand for its products. The stock was up 12% on Thursday from the prior week.
Super Micro makes servers using Nvidia's (NVDA) AI chips for data centers that power artificial intelligence software. The company said it’s shipping servers containing over 100,000 Nvidia GPUs per quarter “for some of the largest AI factories ever built.”
Then on Tuesday, shares of SMCI fell 5% after a promising premarket rally that saw the stock jump as much as 7%. Daniel Newman, CEO of the Futurum Group, said investors’ euphoria over the company’s shipment data faded against the backdrop of Super Micro’s regulatory risk.
“I think one piece of good news hardly undoes multiple months of significant financial and regulatory scrutiny around a company like this,” Newman said.
The Hindenburg report in August accused Super Micro of shoddy accounting, undisclosed relationships between its CEO and companies it does business with, and violations of US export bans. For example, Hindenburg said Super Micro has shipped servers to sanctioned Russian firms through shell companies, some of which were likely used by its military for its war against Ukraine.
The day after Hindenburg released its report, Super Micro shares dropped 20%. The company also delayed filing its annual 10-K report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Super Micro’s woes continued with a Wall Street Journal report of an alleged DOJ probe, which sent shares tumbling in late September.
Super Micro CEO Charles Liang said the Hindenburg report contained “false or inaccurate statements” and “misleading presentations of information that we have previously shared publicly.” Liang said the company’s delayed 10-K filing would not affect the company’s fourth quarter financial results, adding that Super Micro would address Hindenburg’s allegations “in due course.”