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Cerebras Beats Revenue Forecast but Warns of Sharply Lower Margins, Prompting Stock Slide

The results validate demand for its wafer‑scale chips while also raising near‑term margin and selling‑pressure risks for the newly public company.

Overview

  • Cerebras reported Q1 2026 revenue of $193.4 million, a roughly 92–94% year‑over‑year increase in results released on June 23 that topped analyst estimates.
  • Management guided full‑year adjusted gross margins of 38%–41% and said second‑quarter margins would fall further because the company is temporarily leasing back previously deployed systems and recording contra‑revenue tied to OpenAI warrants.
  • Cerebras disclosed a multi‑year agreement with OpenAI worth more than $20 billion to deploy 750 megawatts of its compute, a deal that anchors growth but concentrates customer exposure.
  • The stock plunged after the report, briefly trading below its $185 IPO price, and faces added near‑term selling risk from a lock‑up expiration that will make about 13% of IPO shares eligible to trade.
  • The company still reports a large backlog and analyst support with an average price target near $294, but wafer‑scale manufacturing, rapid data‑center buildouts and heavy customer concentration remain the main execution and margin risks to watch.