Cerebras's stock sinks below IPO price in a major blow to early investors

About this update from Cerebras Systems Inc.

By William GavinThe once-high-flying AI chipmaker's stock has now dropped more than 50% from its all-time intraday high hit six weeks agoThe chipmaker Cerebras Systems focuses its efforts on inference, or the process of running artificial-intelligence models.Cerebras Systems saw blowout demand for its initial public offering about six weeks ago. The enthusiasm has quickly evaporated.Shares hit a new low point on Wednesday as they crashed below their IPO price in the wake of a poorly received earnings report, the artificial-intelligence chipmaker's first since going public.Cerebras's stock (CBRS) ended the day at $182.26, down nearly 20%, at one point falling as low as $181.56 on an intraday basis. Both levels were below the company's IPO price of $185 a pop, which was a premium on top of an earlier premium, thanks to a surge of interest from investors.Early public-market investors in Cerebras have been badly burned, seeing as shares opened at $350 after listing and are down more than 52% from an intraday high of $386.34, which was hit later on that first trading day.Cerebras raised about $5.55 billion in May, which briefly made it 2026's largest IPO in the world by gross proceeds, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It was quickly surpassed by SpaceX's (SPCX) own IPO earlier this month, which raked in several times that figure.The chipmaker late Tuesday posted better-than-expected results for the March quarter, including core revenue that reflected 92% year-over-year growth. It was well-received by bullish analysts at Mizuho and Wedbush, among others, and in a statement, Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman touted his company's "outstanding start" to the year.But investors appeared to be dissatisfied. That seems to at least be partially related to Cerebras's forecast for narrower core gross margins."A beat/raise out of the gate, but we think investors were not prepared for the [sequential] step-down" in gross margins, even though the consensus forecast was modeling that, TD Cowen analyst Joshua Buchalter said in a note to clients late Tuesday. He rates Cerebras shares at buy.The company reported a 47% core gross margin for the first quarter, but guided to a second-quarter margin of between 36% and 38%. For the full year, Cerebras said that margin could come in between 38% and 41%.On Wednesday, Feldman defended his company's forecast, calling it "misunderstood.""We...

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