Super Micro Computer stock continued its post-earnings rally Thursday while Cisco Systems -- another hardware maker that has gotten an artificial-intelligence boost -- fell hard.
Super Micro stock surged 8% on Thursday to $40.63. Shares have now risen for five consecutive days, gaining 41% over that period. That's the stock's longest winning streak since June 2, 2026 and best five-day stretch since May 16, 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Super Micro reported fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the stock market closed Tuesday. While revenue for the quarter just missed Wall Street estimates, earnings of $1.70 a share came in way above analyst expectations for 92 cents.
The company also said it expects fiscal 2027 revenue between $65 billion and $72 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of $53 billion.
Super Micro is a clear beneficiary of the artificial-intelligence hardware boom. The company makes servers that are used to help power AI, and customers, like major cloud providers, are buying up massive amounts of this type of hardware as they build out data centers.
Other hardware companies are also greatly benefiting from this massive demand cycle, and Cisco is one of them.
Cisco reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue Wednesday after the close and gave a stronger-than-expected fiscal 2027 financial outlook. These results were driven by a boost in demand from customers looking to buy up the infrastructure needed to power AI.
However, Cisco stock dived 9% on Thursday.
One key difference in the two companies' results was gross margins. Super Micro said gross margins for the fourth quarter were 17.6%, a major jump from the margins of 9.5% in the same period last year.
"Gross margins are still improving on a y/y [year-over-year] basis, which implies that product mix is also contributing to the improvement," Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold wrote Tuesday. Essentially, the types of products that Super Micro is selling have higher margins. Experts say that because demand is so strong, Super Micro has pricing power, helping to boost margins.
On the other hand, Cisco reported total gross margin of 66.3% for the quarter, a drop from 68.4% last year. This decline was partially due to the rising cost of components used in AI hardware, like memory.
Super Micro and Cisco's shares also had very different trajectories heading into the latest batch of earnings, which could help explain their diverging performances. Super Micro stock has declined 12% over the past 12 months while Cisco stock has surged 63% in the same time frame.
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