Cerebras Swings to 2Q Loss, Lifts Full-Year Outlook -- Update

By Elias Schisgall

Cerebras Systems swung to a loss in the second quarter but still lifted its outlook for the full year.

The semiconductor company on Wednesday reported a loss of $450.5 million, or $2.98 a share, compared with a profit of $309.5 million, or $1.91 a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose to $180.1 million, up from $103.3 million a year prior.

Core revenue--which strips out certain items including stock-based compensation, customer warrant amortization, and data-center pass through revenues and costs--more than doubled, to $209.9 million. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $190.6 million of core revenue.

Shares slid 16%, to $220.38, in after-hours trading Wednesday. The stock, which ended the regular trading session up 12%, at $262.06, is down 16% from its initial closing price after going public in May.

Cerebras reported a core gross margin of 41% and a core operating margin of negative 16%.

The company ended the quarter with $25.4 billion in remaining performance obligations.

Cerebras's core gross margin remains under pressure from the company's decision to rent back some of its own systems from cloud customers in order to meet demand for its inference services, Chief Financial Officer Bob Komin told analysts on a Wednesday call. Core gross margins would have been around 500 basis points higher without those costs, he said.

Core gross margin will hit a low point in the current third quarter, Komin said, before a significant improvement in the fourth quarter as more data-center capacity comes online.

He said that Cerebras now has more than 600 megawatts of data-center capacity up or under contract to be delivered by the end of next year.

"The foundation is in place to support a tripling or better in core revenue in 2027 and additional multiples in future years," Komin said. "This growth is also setting us up for significant margin expansion in 2027 and beyond."

Cerebras lifted its full-year guidance, projecting core revenue of $880 million to $890 million, with core gross margins in a range of 41% to 43%. Core operating margins are projected between negative 17% and negative 19%.

It previously guided for core revenue between $855 million and $865 million, with core gross margins between 38% and 41% and core operating margins between negative 28% and negative 32%.

For the current quarter, the company forecast core revenue of $214 million to $216 million, with core gross margins between 38% and 40% and core operating margins between negative 23% and negative 25%.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 12, 2026 19:17 ET (23:17 GMT)