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Cerebras Systems has shed more than 60% since its splashy debut, yet Wall Street analysts keep raising their price targets. One report about a single customer could determine whether this AI chipmaker stages a massive comeback or slides further into…

Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS) currently trades at $117.98. The average analyst price target is $282.55, meaning 139.5% upside.

Cerebras makes wafer-scale AI chips and sells fast cloud inference to CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD | CRWD Price Prediction) and others; key customers are OpenAI, AWS, CrowdStrike, and G42. The Street-high target goes to UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri at $330.00, meaning about 179.7% upside. That rounds to 180%.

Implied upside above 40% means the market and analysts disagree sharply about this company’s future. The stock has also fallen more than 30%, so the disagreement shows up in real losses for shareholders.

A Hot AI IPO Has Lost Most of Its Debut Value The latest blow involved NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), via a SemiAnalysis report claiming OpenAI may use NVIDIA GPUs instead of Cerebras hardware for the “Ultrafast” mode of GPT-6.1 Sol. Meanwhile, 19.4 million shares became eligible for trading as post-IPO lock-ups expired. The stock fell 16.61% over the past week and 43.41% over the past month. It has dropped 62.07% from $311.07 at its debut and recently reached a 52-week low of $115.13.

The selloff is specific to Cerebras. Over the same month, the S&P 500 moved -0.04%.

Fundamentals had already started the slide. Second-quarter GAAP revenue of $180.11 million missed the $193.55 million consensus. GAAP EPS of -$2.98 missed the -$0.1801 estimate, mostly because of $377.0 million in stock-based compensation. Management guided third-quarter core gross margin to 38% to 40% and said it expects that to be the low point.

Analysts Still Point to a $25.4 Billion Backlog The bullish argument begins with $25.4 billion in remaining performance obligations. That figure excludes any AWS or other hyperscaler business. Management plans to “more than triple our core revenues in ’27”. Core revenue already rose 103% to $209.87 million last quarter. The CEO said, “Looking forward, we see unbound demand for fast inference.”

UBS makes its thesis on three points: the wafer-scale engine’s speed advantage over GPU clusters, contract backlog visibility, and hyperscalers diversifying away from GPU supply bottlenecks.

Several catalysts are scheduled. The disaggregated inference product with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) is due to deploy in Q4. AWS Bedrock availability follows in Q1 2027, and revenue from other hyperscalers should start in mid-2027. Management is aiming core gross margin of 60% plus over time.

Analyst view remains firmly positive. Three analysts rate it Strong Buy, seven rate it Buy, one rates it Hold, and none rate it Sell. The 2027 EPS estimate rose to $1.2737 from $0.9613 60 days ago. That came from nine upward revisions and no cuts. Those revisions show no reaction yet to the OpenAI report. Treat the targets as one data point among many.

Cerebras Fell Hardest While NVIDIA and AMD Slipped The rest of the group fell far less than Cerebras.

NVIDIA slipped 3.01% over the past month but is up 19.02% this year. At $221.97, it sits below a $328.72 aiming, which meaning 48.1% upside. It has 10 Strong Buys, 49 Buys, two Holds, and one Sell. That upside is far smaller than Cerebras’, and NVIDIA is also the reported alternative for the OpenAI work.

AMD fell 11.39% over the past month but remains up 158.09% this year. At $552.72 against a $636.21 aiming, implied upside is 15.1%. It has five Strong Buys, 40 Buys, and 11 Holds.

Cerebras has by far the largest analyst-implied upside in the group. That gap reveals how much execution risk investors see in the smaller company.

A 62% Slide Against a Rising S&P 500 At $117.98, Cerebras trades well below the $282.55 consensus of 11 analysts, meaning 139.5% upside. Shares are down 62.07% since the debut. The S&P 500 has gained 13.37% year to date.

The balance sheet gives the company room to wait. Cash and equivalents total $6.74 billion, and the $850 million revolver remains undrawn. Analysts expect revenue to rise from $887 million this year to $2.95 billion in 2027.

OpenAI Is the Swing Factor for This Rebound The recovery case strengthens if the third-quarter report meets the $214 million to $216 million core revenue guidance and OpenAI confirms its 750 MW, $20 billion-plus commitment. The case weakens if OpenAI switches high-speed inference to NVIDIA. The backlog depends heavily on one customer, and stock-based compensation keeps GAAP losses deep.

I am cautiously bullish. The backlog, cash position, and rising estimates support a recovery. Still, I would want management to address the OpenAI report directly before believing the Street’s targets.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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It's not uncommon for the stock price of an initial public offering (IPO) to drop 50% from its first-day close. In fact, 38.5% of IPO stocks since 1975 saw their share price cut in half after three years of public trading, according to data from economist and University of Florida professor Jay Ritter.

So, the 52% drop in Cerebras (CBRS +0.49%), one of the hottest artificial intelligence IPOs of 2026, isn't too out of the ordinary. The good news for investors is that analysts are still extremely bullish on the stock, with a median price target roughly double its current price.

Here's a closer look at Cerebras, what caused its drop, and whether the analysts covering it are right.

Image source: Getty Images.

The big drop in the big chipmaker Cerebras made its market debut in May, closing its first day of trading at $311.07 per share, 68% above its IPO price. The big pop in its price reflects excitement around the company, which designs multi-core systems that fill an entire 12-inch silicon wafer. Cerebras' chip architecture aims to solve the biggest challenge in AI inference speeds, transferring data between chips, by keeping everything on a single piece of silicon.

The technology attracted the attention of OpenAI, which signed a deal to use Cerebras' chips for inference. Amazon has also agreed to use Cerebras chips in its Amazon Web Services systems, pairing them with its own Trainium chips to use the best chips available for specific tasks.

But the excitement around Cerebras didn't last long. The stock sold off throughout May and June, dipping below its IPO price. While the chipmaker recovered somewhat alongside the rest of the industry in August, it disappointed investors with its second-quarter earnings report. That sent the stock plummeting 20%.

CBRS Cerebras Systems$142.17+$0.69 (+0.49%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/15/26

The report showed Cerebras rapidly transitioning from selling its hardware directly to customers, as in its deal with Amazon, to standing up its own cloud computing service using its chips, as in its deal with OpenAI. Cloud revenue climbed 281% year over year while hardware sales dropped 23%. Cloud now accounts for two-thirds of revenue, up from one-third last year. Analysts were expecting hardware sales to hold up better.

The next big drop came when reports indicated that OpenAI is running its newest "Ultrafast" model using Nvidia GPUs instead of Cerebras' chips. That cast doubt on Cerebras' ability to execute on its contract with the frontier AI lab. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reassured investors that Cerebras remains a key partner, but the news highlighted the significant customer concentration risk for Cerebras.

OpenAI has committed to spending up to $20 billion with Cerebras. Through June, it's spent just $74 million. The OpenAI deal makes up the bulk of the company's $25.4 billion backlog as of the end of the second quarter.

Of the 14 analysts covering the stock, not one rates it a sell. The median price target among them is $295, about double the current stock price.

Indeed, there's a lot of potential upside in the stock. After all, it has $25 billion in contracted revenue, while its current annual run rate sits around $720 million. The company could easily increase revenue tenfold if it can execute.

That remains the biggest question for Cerebras: execution. Building its own data centers and renting them out to customers is a much different business than making chips and selling them to third parties. There are major capital requirements as well, adding another wrench in the mix.

That said, management believes it's mostly insulated from supply constraints, using slightly older chip fabrication processes and avoiding the need to buy memory chips, which are in short supply. As such, it should have few problems ensuring it has enough chips for its data centers to meet the demands of its OpenAI contract.

The news that OpenAI is using Nvidia chips for its latest model isn't as big a threat as the actual challenge of getting data centers, power, and chips all in place to serve its biggest potential customer. Investors should look for signs that Cerebras can meet OpenAI's demands before trusting analysts that the stock can double from here.

Cerebras Systems CEO and co-founder Andrew Feldman believes we’re nearing a future where everyone will have an AI appliance in their own home.

Speaking on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 on Tuesday, the chipmaker executive answered a question about what would need to happen for AI to become a home appliance, saying, “Actually, I don’t think that’s very far away.”

He pointed to the advances in consumer AI agents, like Meta’s Muse and Instinct, the startup now valued at $10 billion, as examples of how AI is finding its footing with everyday users.

As for home AI? He predicts that we’ll have personal AI assistants that run locally.

“Just like your cell phone, they’ll do some work on device and some work going back to the cloud,” Feldman explained. “But I think they will get to know you very well, and you will have a security perimeter around them. And they will certainly have access to credit cards and be able to buy things for you,” he continued. “I think they will make a meaningful impact in making our lives better.”

Of course, for an AI chipmaker, the vision of a home AI appliance, or at least widespread consumer adoption of agentic technology, is certainly appealing.

But Feldman isn’t just working on the hardware infrastructure; he’s a personal AI user himself, saying that he now uses “a collection of agents” to sweep his calendar, pull up information about the people he’s going to have a call with, and more. While AI is already doing many of the things we used to do manually, Feldman is most excited about the new possibilities — things that weren’t possible before.

He’s leaving it up to other founders to figure out what those might be, though.

“One of the reasons I love being in infrastructure is because I don’t need the consumer-facing idea … I like building the platforms that other people’s ideas take flight on,” he said.

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Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) faces more potential selling when up to 19.4 million more shares become eligible for sale on Wednesday under the AI chipmaker’s staggered IPO lock-up.

The stock is on watch after sliding 10.7% to $146.62 on Monday, its lowest close yet, according to Benzinga Pro market data. Shares are down about 58% from their $350 opening price in May and trade roughly 21% below the $185 IPO price.

CBRS stock is moving. See the real-time price action here.  Lock-Up Clock TicksCerebras set up its lock-up to release insider stock in stages rather than all at once, similar to SpaceX. The releases were planned in several rounds running through the end of October, Axios reported at the time of the IPO.

The last tranche of this size arrived Sept. 30. Up to 19.4 million shares held by directors, officers, employees and other holders unlocked that day, equal to 8% of shares outstanding. The stock fell 8.9% that day.

Before that, up to 14.6 million shares had been freed every two weeks since Aug. 19.

Insiders have been selling. CEO Andrew Feldman and CTO Sean Lie sold more than $240 million of Class A shares between Aug. 20 and Sept. 25 under trading plans, according to Benzinga’s insider sale data. 

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OpenAI Doubts LingerThe unlock comes on top of questions about Cerebras’ biggest customer. On Sept. 30, research firm SemiAnalysis said OpenAI would run the “Ultrafast” mode of GPT-6.1 Sol on NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs rather than on Cerebras hardware. Cerebras fell nearly 20% that week and closed at $166.43 on Oct. 2.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back late that Friday. 

“There is some speculation about our partnership with Cerebras. Cerebras is a close partner, and we have a deep engagement pushing on the frontiers of speed,” he wrote on X. The stock jumped 9% the following Monday. His post did not say which chips run the new tier.

Citi analysts said their 2026-2028 revenue outlook for Cerebras was “unchanged.” They called it “too early to read much into” the rollout, CNBC reported. 

The two companies are closely tied. Cerebras has a multiyear deal worth more than $20 billion to supply OpenAI with 750 megawatts of computing power. OpenAI also lent Cerebras $1 billion and holds warrants for up to 33.4 million shares.

Altman Bounce FadesCerebras’ Altman bounce didn’t hold. Shares have fallen about 19% since closing at $181.55 on Oct. 5.

Pressure across the sector added to the losses. AI stocks slid Oct. 8 after reports that OpenAI’s annualized revenue at the end of September was about $18 billion below earlier figures. 

On Monday, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) unveiled its Maia 300 chip and said it would become the main inference system for Microsoft’s own products. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 2.7% the same day. 

Inference is the core of Cerebras’ pitch, and each new in-house chip from a big cloud company makes the competitive question harder to ignore.

Cerebras is now worth about $34.8 billion. It was valued near $95 billion after its first day of trading.

CBRS Stock Price Activity: Cerebras stock was up 0.49% at $147.34 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Photo: Courtesy Cerebras

This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Shares of Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS – Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as low as $155.50 and last traded at $152.4270, with a volume of 2,101,527 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $164.17.

Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CBRS shares. Weiss Ratings cut Cerebras Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Cerebras Systems from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Cerebras Systems from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Freedom Capital upgraded Cerebras Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Cerebras Systems from $340.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cerebras Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $299.90.

Get Our Latest Analysis on CBRS

Cerebras Systems Trading Down 7.3%
The firm has a market capitalization of $36.16 billion and a P/E ratio of -1,896.19. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.54. The company has a current ratio of 5.82, a quick ratio of 5.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.
Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($2.98) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($2.77). The firm had revenue of $209.87 million during the quarter. Cerebras Systems’s revenue was up 74.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cerebras Systems Inc. will post -0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cerebras Systems
In other news, CTO Sean Lie sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.97, for a total transaction of $25,076,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 309,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,690,633.93. This represents a 27.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Steven Vassallo sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.30, for a total transaction of $10,515,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 171,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,166,763.10. This represents a 22.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,864,452 shares of company stock worth $387,680,754 in the last quarter.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerebras Systems
Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cerebras Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $241,934,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Cerebras Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $194,853,000. State Street Corp acquired a new position in Cerebras Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $105,343,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Cerebras Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $88,400,000. Finally, Montanova Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the second quarter worth approximately $37,990,000.

Cerebras Systems Company Profile
(Get Free Report)

Cerebras Systems is an artificial intelligence computing company that develops specialized hardware and software for training and deploying large AI models. The company’s technology is designed to address the computational demands of generative AI, deep learning and other data-intensive workloads.

Its core products include the Wafer-Scale Engine, a purpose-built AI processor produced on a single silicon wafer, and the CS-3 AI supercomputer, which incorporates that processor into an integrated computing system.

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Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) has had a busy stretch that included a sell-off on reports about the hardware behind OpenAI’s newest model and a rebound after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the chipmaker a "close partner."

Cerebras shares are approaching critical lows. Why did CBRS hit a new low? Shares Fall on a Report That OpenAI’s Fastest Tier Runs on Nvidia ChipsOn September 30, shares traded lower after SemiAnalysis reported that OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast tier is running on Nvidia GPUs instead of Cerebras hardware. Cerebras had powered the Ultrafast tier for the previous version, GPT-5.6 Sol, at up to 750 tokens per second starting in August. Neither OpenAI nor Cerebras has confirmed what hardware serves the new tier. Shares closed Friday at $166.43, below Cerebras’ $185 IPO price.

Altman Calls Cerebras a "Close Partner" and Shares ReboundLate Friday, Oct. 2, Altman posted on X: "There is some speculation about our partnership with Cerebras. Cerebras is a close partner, and we have a deep engagement pushing on the frontiers of speed." The post did not say which chips run GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast. Shares rose about 9% on Monday, Oct. 5. Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley said OpenAI’s relationship with Cerebras "remains strong," according to Investing.com.

Read Next

Cerebras Shares Edge LowerCBRS Price Action: At the time of publication, Cerebras shares are trading 1.56% lower at $161.61, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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When investors think about the artificial intelligence boom, two names tend to dominate conversations. They are Nvidia (NVDA -0.52%), which supplies the graphics processing units (GPUs) powering much of the AI industry, and Broadcom (AVGO +0.39%), which helps tech companies develop custom silicon. But there's a lesser-known player that could be the industry's best-kept secret: Cerebras Systems (CBRS -2.23%).

Why speed is central to Cerebras' strategy With Cerebras, it all starts with speed. Instead of the usual approach to chip design, Cerebras built its business around a large processor designed specifically for artificial intelligence: its Wafer-Scale Engine.

Image source: Getty Images.

The chip combines computing cores, memory, and communication capabilities into a single piece of silicon, reducing the need to move data between separate components. Through this approach, Cerebras aims to alleviate bottlenecks that can slow AI workloads.

That matters because training an AI model is only one part of the equation. Once a model is deployed, it's used for AI inference, answering questions, writing code, and even executing tasks for millions of users in real time. In fact, inference is becoming one of the fastest-growing trends in the AI market today.

Cerebras is investing in that shift by working to make AI responses faster.

As AI applications become more interactive, speed could become a huge competitive advantage. It could make conversations with AI chatbots faster and more fluid, while enabling AI agents to complete multi-step tasks more quickly, across domains ranging from software development and business workflows to scientific research.

The company's approach is already attracting attention from major AI players, including OpenAI.

OpenAI's partnership puts Cerebras on the map Getting a major AI company to adopt its technology is a huge vote of confidence for any chipmaker. That's why Cerebras' relationship with OpenAI stands out.

The companies recently announced a multi-year agreement to deploy 750 megawatts of Cerebras compute capacity for OpenAI customers, with deployment planned in stages through 2028. The goal is to make AI responses faster, particularly for workloads that generate long answers, assist with coding, and power AI agents.

The partnership took an even bigger turn in August, when Cerebras announced that it's powering the Ultrafast mode for OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol. The company says the service can deliver up to 750 output tokens per second and run up to 14 times faster than with standard processing. This demonstrates how Cerebras' specialized hardware can greatly improve the user experience with advanced AI models.

For investors, the important point is that Cerebras' technology is already powering real commercial AI services, backed by one of the leading AI model providers. But proving its technology works is only part of the equation.

The company is also racing to build out its next-generation hardware.

An expanded technology portfolio Cerebras recently announced its CS-4 system, which it says can deliver up to twice the speed of its predecessor, along with improved efficiency and faster token generation. CS-4 is part of a broader platform that Cerebras says will allow it to upgrade computing, cooling, and power delivery more independently. That matters because performance doesn't depend on chips alone.

Data centers must also deliver enough power, move data efficiently, and cool dense hardware. As a result, by adopting this design, the company is trying to improve the economics of running AI at scale. That makes Cerebras' technology better suited for large deployments, especially as AI data centers become bigger and more complex.

For investors looking beyond the biggest chipmakers, this continued product development is another reason to watch the company.

Is Cerebras stock a buy right now?

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Nvidia and Broadcom may be providing much of the infrastructure behind AI, but the AI boom is also creating opportunities for lesser-known chipmakers. That could mean room for more than one winning chip design.

Looking ahead, Cerebras' focus on speed and inference could give it a major role in the next phase of the AI boom, especially as it launches broader platforms that can scale with AI data centers.

If demand for faster AI keeps growing, Cerebras could turn out to be one of the market's strongest under-the-radar chip suppliers.

As artificial intelligence hardware demand surges, investors face a choice between specialized chip designers and infrastructure providers. Choosing between Cerebras Systems (CBRS -1.73%) and Nebius Group (NBIS +0.52%) requires balancing hardware innovation against cloud scaling.

Cerebras offers massive wafer-scale processors designed for rapid AI training, while Nebius provides a full-stack cloud platform for model deployment. Both companies are scaling quickly to capture a share of the expanding AI infrastructure market, but they approach the opportunity from different angles within the tech ecosystem, offering distinct ways to play the AI trend.

The case for Cerebras SystemsCerebras Systems builds the Wafer Scale Engine, which is a single processor the size of a silicon wafer for those following semiconductor stocks. This massive chip aims to simplify AI training by keeping data on-chip, serving clients in medical research, cryptography, and energy sectors. Because its hardware is highly specialized, it targets organizations requiring massive computational power for complex agentic AI tasks that traditional chips might struggle to handle efficiently.

In its latest annual report, filed for FY 2025, revenue reached nearly $510.0 million, representing a significant 75.7% increase over the previous year. The company reported a net income of approximately $237.8 million for the period, resulting in a net margin of roughly 46.6%. This performance marks a significant turnaround from FY 2024, when it reported a net loss of more than $481.6 million on revenue of roughly $290.3 million.

According to its latest balance sheet, dated December 2025, the debt-to-equity ratio is -0.5x, which means its total liabilities exceed its shareholder equity. The current ratio, which measures a company's ability to cover short-term debts with short-term assets, is roughly 2.1x. Free cash flow, or the cash left after capital spending, was negative $392.8 million for the fiscal year ended in 2025.

The case for Nebius GroupNebius Group operates as an AI-centric cloud provider, offering a unified platform for model training and production runtime. Its business model focuses on providing the GPU-heavy infrastructure needed by start-ups and enterprises in life sciences and financial services. By offering a localized cloud alternative, it aims to compete with larger hyperscalers by specializing in AI-specific workloads that require dense compute clusters.

In its latest annual report, filed for FY 2025, revenue reached approximately $529.8 million, showing explosive growth of nearly 350.9% year over year. The company generated a net income of roughly $101.7 million during this period, resulting in a net margin of nearly 19.2%. This performance follows a net loss of over $641.4 million in FY 2024, reflecting the rapid scaling of its cloud services as demand for AI training capacity accelerated.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is roughly 1.1x, indicating that total debt is slightly higher than shareholder equity. Its current ratio is approximately 3.1x, suggesting a strong ability to meet immediate financial obligations with its existing assets. Note that stock-based compensation represented roughly 21.6% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation since SBC is a non-cash expense added back in the cash flow statement. Free cash flow was negative $3.7 billion for the year.

Risk profile comparisonCerebras Systems faces significant competition from established chipmakers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. Since its hardware is proprietary and unique, it must convince developers to adopt a specialized software stack rather than industry-standard platforms. High capital requirements for chip fabrication and a limited customer base also present concentration risks for the business.

Nebius Group competes against massive cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft, which possess significantly deeper pockets and larger existing customer bases. The company must sustain high levels of capital expenditure to maintain its GPU fleets, which contributes to substantial negative free cash flow. Additionally, its history as part of an international organization may bring complex regulatory or organizational integration hurdles.

Valuation comparisonNebius offers a lower entry point based on Forward P/E, while Cerebras carries a higher P/S ratio based on sales over the past twelve months.

MetricCerebras SystemsNebius GroupForward P/E217.4x46.1xP/S ratio61.1x42.0xValuation metrics include sourcing from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.

I'd go with Nebius. The company reported extraordinary Q2 revenue growth of over 400% year over year, driven by surging global demand for AI cloud infrastructure. Customers are competing for GPU capacity faster than Nebius can supply it, Nvidia has taken a significant stake in the business, and the full-year outlook was reaffirmed after beating estimates. A partnership model where third parties finance the physical infrastructure keeps capital requirements more manageable than building everything from scratch.

Cerebras has built chip architecture that delivers AI training speeds most competitors cannot match, and partnerships with OpenAI and AWS signal serious institutional interest. But the stock has fallen more than 50% from its post-IPO peak, partly because recent reports indicated OpenAI chose Nvidia hardware over Cerebras for its newest product. When your most high-profile customer appears to be moving toward a competitor, that raises questions about the durability of the revenue pipeline.

Nebius is generating positive adjusted EBITDA while growing at a remarkable pace. That combination looks like the stronger starting point for a long-term investment.

Cerebras Systems Today

CBRS

Cerebras Systems

$175.05 -2.05 (-1.16%)

As of 10/7/2026 04:00 PM Eastern

$160.81▼

$386.34$299.90

Investors evaluating the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware sector often find themselves cornered into a single, dominant trade. Finding a credible, publicly traded alternative to established GPU leaders is a persistent challenge for investors seeking more exposure to AI infrastructure.

The search for a viable secondary layer in the silicon stack is leading institutional money toward Cerebras Systems NASDAQ: CBRS. Investors are pricing in Cerebras's unique wafer-scale architecture as a legitimate alternative to standard GPU systems. Driven by key endorsements from hyperscale partners and a heavily capitalized balance sheet, Cerebras provides an alternative for high-speed inference workloads.

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The Hardware Shift Funding Next-Gen AIThe pricing power of established chipmakers is creating friction for hyperscalers trying to build next-generation AI models. While traditional GPUs remain the standard for training large language models, the inference phase, where models actively generate responses for end users, requires a different focus on latency and speed.

Data center operators are increasingly constrained by the physical limitations of linking thousands of individual chips together to process these workloads. The energy requirements, physical space, and cooling costs associated with traditional computing clusters are pushing capital out of generalized hardware and into specialized, purpose-built processors. Investors are rewarding semiconductor sector designers that can bypass traditional network fabric bottlenecks and deliver raw processing speed at scale.

Bypassing the Interconnect Speed LimitInvestors received a clear signal regarding this hardware shift in late September. Following industry rumors that OpenAI might rely exclusively on standard GPUs for upcoming faster models, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly reaffirmed Cerebras Systems as a close partner. This confirmation of deep, ongoing engagement focused on AI processing speed quickly reversed a temporary stock sell-off and provided verifiable proof of concept for Cerebras hardware.

Cerebras Systems Inc. (CBRS) Price Chart for Thursday, October, 8, 2026

Cerebras's edge centers on its Wafer-Scale Engine. Standard computing systems connect dozens of individual chips, forcing data to move between processors and external high-bandwidth memory. Cerebras instead places computing cores and memory on a single large silicon wafer.

That design keeps more data close to the processor, reducing the delays created when information has to move between separate chips and memory systems. By relying on local static memory instead of routing data through network fabrics to external bandwidth arrays, Cerebras can reduce inference latency to levels that traditional GPU clusters may struggle to match.

This technological advantage is translating directly into financial data. In the second quarter of 2026, Cerebras reported an approximate 74.3% year-over-year revenue increase, reaching roughly $210 million. This level of top-line growth suggests hyperscale clients and enterprise customers are actively spending on alternatives to traditional AI infrastructure.

Funding the AI Future With Zero Liquidity PanicDeveloping specialized semiconductors from the ground up requires significant spending. Cerebras reported a net loss of about $450 million in its most recent quarter, a figure that naturally invites scrutiny regarding execution risk and corporate cash burn. The balance sheet suggests a foundation built to withstand heavy manufacturing and research cycles without near-term shareholder dilution.

Large-scale enterprise clients require assurance that their hardware partners will survive long enough to provide multi-year maintenance and software support. With an approximate $4.7 billion capital raise during its May 2026 initial public offering, Cerebras currently holds roughly $7.5 billion in cash and short-term investments against manageable debt of about $0.8 billion.

This liquidity is paired with an unlevered balance sheet, with a debt-to-equity ratio of about 0.02 and a current ratio near 5.82. The current cash burn rate represents capitalized growth rather than an immediate liquidity crisis. Cerebras has the financial runway to scale hardware production and fulfill its multi-billion-dollar client backlog without the immediate capital constraints that often hinder younger technology hardware firms.

ETF Accumulation Offsets Post-IPO SellingOne factor shaping Cerebras' near-term trading environment is the IPO lock-up expiration expected in early November. Approximately 30 million shares will become eligible for public trading, representing a notable portion of the roughly 237 million total shares outstanding.

Ahead of this event, corporate insiders have steadily sold stock. Insider sales over the trailing 12 months have surpassed $400 million. That is not unusual after a company goes public, as early investors and executives gain the opportunity to cash out part of their holdings, but it does add more shares to the market.

While insider shares are entering the market, buy-side absorption remains active and organized. In early October, Cathie Wood's ARK Invest allocated roughly $20 million to acquire over 117,000 shares across its exchange-traded funds. Additional tracking data points to steady accumulation from institutional anchors like Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC, alongside nine other major institutional funds actively adding to their positions this quarter. This institutional demand suggests professional funds view current pricing as a reasonable entry point and are readily absorbing shares distributed by early investors to build long-term holdings.

Building a Position Ahead of the Next AI WaveValuing a high-growth semiconductor firm requires looking beyond traditional earnings multiples. Cerebras Systems currently trades at a price-to-sales multiple near 54x, carrying a market capitalization of about $41 billion. While the valuation premium is high, it reflects forward-growth expectations tied to disrupting the large data center infrastructure market.

69th Percentile

Moderate Buy

71.3% Upside

Healthy

N/A

0.18 Selling Shares

Growing

See Full Analysis

Wall Street analysts maintain a generally favorable outlook on Cerebras's trajectory. Cerebras holds a consensus Moderate Buy rating, outperforming the broader technology sector's average Hold designation. Sell-side desks issued high-conviction upgrades amid recent selling pressure. Jefferies upgraded Cerebras to Outperform, helping establish an average analyst price target near $300. If realized, this suggests a potential upside of nearly 70% from early October trading levels around $177.

Market mechanics remain stable underneath the price action. Short interest sits at a healthy 5.39%, suggesting recent price rebounds are driven by spot buying from institutions rather than temporary short-covering squeezes.

Investors navigating the ongoing AI hardware expansion might consider how a specialized processor company balances a tech-heavy portfolio. While customer concentration and supply-chain execution require careful monitoring, a capitalized balance sheet, verifiable hyperscaler partnerships, and steady institutional inflows present a clear fundamental framework. Those looking to diversify away from single-vendor reliance may find that monitoring trading volume and institutional support around the upcoming lock-up expiration provides valuable insight into Cerebras Systems' next long-term base.

Should You Invest $1,000 in Cerebras Systems Right Now?Before you consider Cerebras Systems, you'll want to hear this.

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Cerebras shares are on the rise after a show of support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS) shares are soaring Monday after a social media post from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared to boost investor sentiment.

Cerebras Systems stock is charging ahead with explosive momentum. Why is CBRS stock up today? Altman Addresses Speculation About OpenAI’s Cerebras PartnershipAltman took to social media to respond to chatter about OpenAI’s ties to Cerebras. He said that “Cerebras is a close partner,” and that the two companies “have a deep engagement pushing on the frontiers of speed.”

The post landed after reports last week that OpenAI’s newly unveiled GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast model doesn’t run on Cerebras chips. Those reports had weighed on the stock.

A Bounce After a Rough StretchToday’s gain comes after a rough month for Cerebras. The stock is down roughly 14.6% over that period. That makes the move look more like a positive correction than a fresh breakout. Shares also still sit below the $185 IPO price.

Last Wednesday’s decline came as a new wave of shares hit the market. Cerebras structured its post-IPO lockup as 11 separate releases rather than one 180-day freeze. Three smaller unlocks of 14.6 million shares each began in August. Last week’s release added about 19.4 million shares and was the first of three larger waves.

What Cerebras Brings to the AI MarketBehind those share-supply headlines is a company focused on large-scale AI computing. Cerebras builds very large systems for training and running AI models. The company says it makes the world’s fastest AI infrastructure, including the world’s largest semiconductor and the hardware that powers, cools and feeds data to it.

Cerebras also writes software that ties those systems together into supercomputers. That software is built to work with common machine learning frameworks like PyTorch. Customers rely on the systems to train large models and run inference at speeds the company says rival approaches have trouble matching.

CBRS Shares Are FlyingCBRS Price Action: Cerebras shares were up 9.73% at $182.63 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Cerebras Systems stock CBRS climbed about 6% in premarket trading Monday, recovering some of last week’s losses after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sought to reassure investors that the AI chipmaker remains a “close partner” of the artificial intelligence company.

The rebound followed a sharp selloff last week, when Cerebras shares plunged 20% to their lowest level after reports said OpenAI would use Nvidia graphics processing units to power the “Ultrafast” mode of its GPT-6.1 Sol model rather than Cerebras chips.

“There is some speculation about our partnership with Cerebras,” Altman said in a post on X on Friday.

“Cerebras is a close partner, and we have a deep engagement pushing on the frontiers of speed.”

Cerebras shares have fallen more than 40% since their Nasdaq debut in May, putting the company under pressure to demonstrate that its relationship with OpenAI can translate into sustained commercial growth.

Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley said OpenAI’s “relationship remains strong” with Cerebras, arguing that concerns about the partnership may have been overstated.

While Nvidia is running OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Ultrafast, Cerebras remains the preferred provider, although its ability to meet demand is constrained by supply, O’Malley said.

He described the recent selloff as “overdone as highlighted by Sam Altman’s post.”

Freedom Capital also upgraded Cerebras to Buy from Hold last week, calling the selloff over concerns about its OpenAI relationship an overreaction.

Analyst Paul Meeks set a $209 price target, implying more than 25% upside from Friday’s close.

Citi analysts also maintained their view of Cerebras’ revenue outlook for 2026 through 2028, saying it remains “unchanged.”

“We believe frontier-AI labs’ latest models would initially roll out on internal chips before running on third-party or Cerebras cloud, so it’s too early to read much into it,” they said in a note on Friday morning.

The analysts nevertheless cautioned that the stock’s next leg higher could depend on improvements in profitability.

“We believe the stock’s ability to outperform is increasingly tied to evidence that gross margins are stabilizing. Any further delay in the gross margin trough would likely weigh on sentiment, particularly given Cerebras’ premium valuation,” they added.

Cerebras has positioned itself as an alternative to Nvidia by developing large-scale processors and AI systems designed to run models faster than traditional graphics processing units.

The company claims its flagship Wafer Scale Engine 3 can deliver faster performance than Nvidia GPUs for certain AI workloads.

Its relationship with OpenAI remains particularly significant.

Cerebras signed a $10 billion agreement with OpenAI in January to provide 750 megawatts of computing power through 2028.

Mizuho reiterated its Outperform rating and $300 price target, pointing to the growing market for fast AI inference workloads.

The firm estimates that the fast-inference total addressable market could reach $550 billion by 2030, representing a 291% compound annual growth rate and about 20% of all AI workloads.

Fast inference has become an important revenue opportunity for Cerebras because industry token pricing is reportedly six to 10 times higher than standard tokens.

Potential applications range from trading and defence to software development, where faster AI responses could reduce coding time.

OpenAI has reported inference speeds up to 14 times faster using Cerebras technology, reinforcing the company’s position as a partner focused on AI response speed.

Mizuho also sees Meta Platforms as a potential future inference customer.

Mizuho maintained its bullish view despite potential share-unlock pressures, projecting that AI fast-inference data-centre deployments could help Cerebras generate $13.5 billion in revenue by 2029.

Cerebras stock cratered to a post-IPO low while rivals like NVIDIA and AMD surged, yet one of the world's largest banks just doubled down with a price target that implies the market is deeply, fundamentally wrong about this AI chip…

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Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS) currently trades at $166.43. The average analyst price target is $291.64, which implies 75.2% upside.

Cerebras makes wafer-scale AI chips and runs the Cerebras Inference Cloud, a service built for very fast AI inference. Its customers include OpenAI, AWS, G42, Figma (NYSE:FIG) and GSK (NYSE:GSK | GSK Price Prediction). It has also signed a multi-year OpenAI deal for 750 MW of inference compute valued at more than $20B.

UBS, one of the world’s largest banks, has set the most bullish price target at $330.00. That works out to 98.3% upside, so UBS expects the stock to roughly double. Either the market is missing a hypergrowth story or analysts are anchored to the excitement around the IPO.

Hot IPO Hits a Post-IPO Low Cerebras fell 19.5% in five sessions and hit a post-IPO low. Shares now trade below the IPO price and are down 46.5% from the first-day close of $311.07.

Second-quarter results showed the crack. GAAP revenue of $180.11M missed the $193.55M consensus, though core revenue grew 103%. Core gross margin slipped to 40.6% from 46.5% the prior quarter. Third-quarter guidance calls for 38% to 40% margin.

The selloff is specific to Cerebras. During the same week, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) gained 3.95%.

Why UBS Still Expects the Stock to Double UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri repeated his Buy rating and $330.00 target. His thesis: the WSE-3 chip delivers up to 6x the inference performance of GPU clusters; demand for inference workloads avoiding HBM memory bottlenecks keeps growing; and sovereign AI contracts like G42 partnerships provide revenue visibility several quarters out.

The backlog supports this. Cerebras has $25.4 billion in remaining performance obligations, excluding AWS and other hyperscalers. Management raised 2026 core revenue guidance to $880 to $890 million and expects to more than triple core revenue in 2027. The average 2027 revenue estimate is $2.95 billion, with average 2027 EPS rising to $1.2737 from $0.9573 90 days ago. Over the past 30 days there were nine up revisions and no cuts.

The catalysts have dates attached. Disaggregated inference with Helios racks from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) launches in the fourth quarter and promises 5x more throughput. AWS Bedrock availability follows in early 2027, with revenue from other hyperscalers starting in mid-2027. Management says gross margin bottoms in the third quarter and then moves toward 60% plus.

The analyst ratings are skewed:

Strong Buy: 3 Buy: 7 Hold: 1 Sell: 0 Arcuri asked on the earnings call whether OpenAI and AWS could make up about two-thirds of next year’s revenue. The CEO replied that OpenAI “will stay a big part next year.” Price targets carry real uncertainty.

Cerebras Falls While Its Chip Rivals Rally Cerebras is falling on its own while its biggest rivals rally.

NVIDIA is up 25.74% year to date at $233.95. Its average target of $327.70 implies 40.1% upside, with 10 Strong Buys, 48 Buys, 2 Holds and 1 Sell.

AMD is up 196% year to date at $633.91, above its $619.51 target. It has 5 Strong Buys, 39 Buys and 11 Holds.

Cerebras has the largest analyst-implied upside in the group. That gap reflects execution risk that its larger, profitable rivals don’t carry.

Down 46.5% Since Debut as the S&P 500 Gains 12.86% This Year At $166.43, Cerebras has 75.2% upside to the $291.64 consensus target held by 11 analysts. The stock is close to its 52-week low of $160.81 and far below its high of $386.34.

Cerebras is down 46.5% since its debut. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up 12.86% year to date. Cerebras trades at 58.09 times sales and 217x forward earnings.

A Rare Discount Comes With OpenAI Strings Attached The bull case improves if AWS and the AMD partnership start bringing in revenue on schedule and gross margin bottoms in the third quarter as promised. The backlog already locks in years of growth, and the 2027 estimates keep rising.

The bear case improves if OpenAI moves more work to NVIDIA or if new data centers come online late. When one customer dominates the backlog, it carries more risk than the headline figure suggests. More lockup releases could also keep pressure on the stock.

The evidence leans bullish. The discount looks too steep for a company whose revenue is about to triple, the kind of early signal we cataloged in a free playbook on spotting the next NVIDIA. Still, OpenAI concentration is the risk I’d track most closely in every earnings report.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Shares of Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS – Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $194.95, but opened at $183.69. Cerebras Systems shares last traded at $183.2650, with a volume of 4,003,977 shares traded.

Specifically, CAO Yagnesh Patel sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.50, for a total value of $269,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 15,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,140,302. This represents a 7.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Dhiraj Mallick sold 396,000 shares of Cerebras Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.04, for a total value of $80,799,840.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 396,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,799,840. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In other news, CFO Robert Patrick Jr. Komin sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.53, for a total transaction of $6,614,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 30,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,242,265.10. The trade was a 51.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts recently commented on CBRS shares. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Cerebras Systems from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cerebras Systems from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Cerebras Systems from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Cerebras Systems in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Cerebras Systems to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $299.90.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CBRS Key Cerebras Systems News Here are the key news stories impacting Cerebras Systems this week:

Positive Sentiment: New customer activity: General Compute selected Cerebras to provide ultra-fast inference for agentic coding, potentially supporting demand for the company’s AI computing systems. General Compute Selects Cerebras to Bring Ultra-Fast Inference to Agentic Coding Positive Sentiment: Partnership and options interest: A reported partnership with Gimlet Labs provided a positive catalyst, while call-option purchases exceeded typical activity, indicating continued speculative interest in CBRS. Cerebras Systems Stock Rises on Gimlet Labs Partnership Neutral Sentiment: AI growth story remains contested: Bulls point to Cerebras’ rapid revenue growth, reported backlog and potential inference demand, but analysts and commentators continue to debate whether benchmark performance will translate into durable earnings and market share against NVIDIA and AMD. Negative Sentiment: OpenAI customer concerns: Reports questioned whether OpenAI’s latest GPT-6.1 model is running on Cerebras hardware and suggested OpenAI may be moving its fastest model or additional workloads to NVIDIA chips. If confirmed, the development could weaken confidence in Cerebras’ customer concentration and growth outlook. Cerebras Slipped Below Its IPO Price Just as Insiders Filed to Sell Negative Sentiment: Large share unlock: Approximately 19.4 million shares became eligible for trading, increasing potential supply and adding near-term selling pressure. Cerebras Stock Falls as a 19.4 Million-Share Unlock Hits Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: COO Dhiraj Mallick sold about $80.8 million of stock, CFO Robert Komin sold roughly $6.6 million, and CAO Yagnesh Patel sold approximately $270,000. The trades were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, but their scale may weigh on investor sentiment. Cerebras Systems Price Performance The company’s fifty day moving average price is $201.92. The stock has a market cap of $40.27 billion and a PE ratio of -2,119.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 5.82 and a quick ratio of 5.80.

Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($2.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($2.77). The business had revenue of $209.87 million for the quarter. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 74.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cerebras Systems Inc. will post -0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cerebras Systems Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cerebras Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $241,934,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Cerebras Systems in the second quarter worth approximately $194,853,000. State Street Corp purchased a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the second quarter worth $105,343,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the second quarter worth $88,400,000. Finally, Montanova Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,990,000.

(Get Free Report)

Cerebras Systems is an artificial intelligence computing company that develops specialized hardware and software for training and deploying large AI models. The company’s technology is designed to address the computational demands of generative AI, deep learning and other data-intensive workloads.

Its core products include the Wafer-Scale Engine, a purpose-built AI processor produced on a single silicon wafer, and the CS-3 AI supercomputer, which incorporates that processor into an integrated computing system.

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Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS – Get Free Report) COO Dhiraj Mallick sold 396,000 shares of Cerebras Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.04, for a total value of $80,799,840.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 396,000 shares in the company, valued at $80,799,840. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Dhiraj Mallick also recently made the following trade(s):

On Tuesday, August 18th, Dhiraj Mallick sold 38,889 shares of Cerebras Systems stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total value of $8,641,913.58. Cerebras Systems Price Performance Shares of Cerebras Systems stock opened at $177.65 on Thursday. Cerebras Systems Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.81 and a 52-week high of $386.34. The company has a market cap of $42.20 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -2,220.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 5.82 and a quick ratio of 5.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.93.

Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($2.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($2.77). The firm had revenue of $209.87 million for the quarter. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 74.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cerebras Systems Inc. will post -0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Trending Headlines about Cerebras Systems Here are the key news stories impacting Cerebras Systems this week:

Positive Sentiment: New customer and partner activity: General Compute selected Cerebras to provide ultra-fast inference for agentic coding, while Gimlet Labs reportedly partnered with the company. These developments could support future demand for Cerebras’ AI systems. General Compute Selects Cerebras to Bring Ultra-Fast Inference to Agentic Coding Cerebras Systems Stock Rises on Gimlet Labs Partnership Positive Sentiment: Strong AI backlog: A reported $25.4 billion backlog, expanding data-center capacity and improving margins remain bullish arguments for Cerebras as it competes with NVIDIA and AMD. Unusually high call-option activity also indicates speculative bullish interest. CBRS’ Backlog Rides on Strong AI Demand Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and valuation debate: Analysts remain generally constructive, with a reported consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and price target near $300, but commentary questions whether benchmark advantages will translate into durable earnings and market share. Negative Sentiment: Share unlock increases supply: Approximately 19.4 million shares became eligible to enter the market, creating near-term dilution and selling pressure. Reports also questioned whether OpenAI’s latest GPT-6.1 model is running on Cerebras hardware. Cerebras Stock Falls as 19.4 Million-Share Unlock Hits Negative Sentiment: Competitive concerns: Reports that OpenAI may be shifting toward NVIDIA chips intensified fears that Cerebras could lose or fail to expand a major AI customer relationship. Cerebras Stock Plunges on OpenAI-NVIDIA Partnership Reports Negative Sentiment: Heavy insider selling: The COO sold $80.8 million of shares, the CFO sold $6.6 million, the CTO sold $25.1 million, and the chief accounting officer sold about $270,000. All were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, but the scale of selling may weigh on sentiment. Institutional Trading of Cerebras Systems Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CBRS. State Street Corp bought a new position in shares of Cerebras Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $105,343,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners bought a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas bought a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $598,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $88,400,000. Finally, National Pension Service acquired a new stake in Cerebras Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,210,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush increased their target price on Cerebras Systems from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Barclays initiated coverage on Cerebras Systems in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on Cerebras Systems in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cerebras Systems from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Cerebras Systems from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $299.90.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Cerebras Systems

Cerebras Systems Company Profile (Get Free Report)

Cerebras Systems is an artificial intelligence computing company that develops specialized hardware and software for training and deploying large AI models. The company’s technology is designed to address the computational demands of generative AI, deep learning and other data-intensive workloads.

Its core products include the Wafer-Scale Engine, a purpose-built AI processor produced on a single silicon wafer, and the CS-3 AI supercomputer, which incorporates that processor into an integrated computing system.

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Cerebras stock slipped below its IPO price on the same day insiders filed to sell and a report surfaced questioning whether its anchor customer moved its fastest model to rival hardware.

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Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS) last traded at $177.65, down 8.87% from a $194.95 prior close. That puts the stock under its $185 IPO offer price.

The shares opened their first day of trading at $350, so early public buyers have lost most of that premium. From the May 14, 2026 close of $311.07, the stock is down 42.89%.

Three separate events landed on September 30, 2026. The post-IPO lockup ended, two senior officers filed notices of planned sales, and a secondhand report questioned whether OpenAI’s newest fast model runs on Cerebras hardware.

For a company whose IPO pitch leaned on OpenAI, that deserves examination.

What Expired, What Was Filed and What Was Only Reported A lockup bars insiders and early holders from selling for a set period after an IPO. When it ended at 6 a.m. Eastern, about 19.4 million shares became eligible for sale.

Officers also filed Form 144 notices covering about $84.3 million of stock. A Form 144 records an intent to sell; only a later Form 4 confirms an executed sale.

The third item is a SemiAnalysis claim that OpenAI’s newest ultrafast model runs on standard GPUs instead of Cerebras systems. OpenAI had previously confirmed that an earlier ultrafast model ran on Cerebras hardware.

Sizing the Insider Filings Against Cerebras Chief Operating Officer Dhiraj Mallick filed to sell 396,000 shares worth about $77.9 million. Chief Financial Officer Robert Patrick Komin Jr. filed to sell 32,500 shares worth about $6.39 million.

Most of Mallick’s shares come from options and performance-based stock awards. Against 112,247,000 shares outstanding, these notices are small next to the unlocked block.

The business underlying is growing. Second-quarter core revenue rose 103% to $209.9 million, and remaining performance obligations, meaning contracted revenue not yet recognized, reached $25.4 billion.

Why the Hardware Report Carries the Bigger Risk Insiders commonly sell when a lockup ends. The notices also leave out whether, when, or at what price any shares were actually sold.

The hardware claim cuts closer to the IPO story. OpenAI signed a multi-year deal for 750 MW of inference compute worth more than $20 billion, and CEO Andrew Feldman said on the August 12 call that OpenAI will “stay a big part next year.”

If OpenAI sends its fastest models elsewhere, that concentration becomes a liability. At 68x trailing sales, the stock has little room for doubt about its anchor customer. We reverse-engineered the characteristics earlier chip winners shared before their biggest runs in a free playbook on spotting the next Nvidia, and customer concentration is one signal worth watching.

How the Valuation Leaves CBRS Exposed to Customer Doubt The risk outweighs the reward until the picture clears. The growth is real, but a stock at 217x forward earnings needs its largest customer relationship to be secure, and right now it is questioned.

Analysts remain upbeat, with 3 strong buy and 7 buy ratings and an average target of $291.64. That optimism rests on the same OpenAI ramp now in doubt.

Form 4 filings will show whether Mallick and Komin actually sold and at what price. A direct statement from OpenAI or Cerebras on which hardware runs the new model would settle the report.

A close back above $185 alongside third-quarter core revenue inside the $214-$216 million guidance range would suggest the selloff came from lockup supply and would ease that risk.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

The stock has fallen sharply from the highs reached after its initial public offering and OpenAI could contribute to a further fall.

Base rent for each site area does not commence until the start of construction on that area, which Zone currently plans to begin after securing a tenant Lease has an initial term of 30 years, with two 10-year extension options Site allows for up to 800 acres of data center development with potential to be over 500 megawatts Opportunity to build a faster path to first power with a large-scale on-site solar and battery plant Supported by a long-term water supply agreement and an option to purchase the data center site , /PRNewswire/ -- Zone Frontier Inc. (NYSE American: ZONE) (the "Company" or "Zone Frontier") today announced that a subsidiary has entered into a long-term ground lease covering approximately 4,077 acres in Potter County, Texas. The lease secures the land, water and development rights for Zone's previously announced West Texas data center campus, which is being developed in partnership with HST Technologies, Inc., the AI infrastructure platform provider behind Cue®.

Under the lease, Zone may designate between 200 and 800 acres for data center facilities and related infrastructure, and at least 1,800 acres for solar generation, battery storage and supporting infrastructure. The property surrounds Southwestern Public Service Company's (an Xcel Energy company) existing Potter County 345 kV substation in the Southwest Power Pool region, which the Company believes provides the campus with a potential path to grid interconnection alongside the dedicated on-site generation.

The lease has an initial term of 30 years, with two 10-year extension options. Base rent for each site area begins only upon the start of construction on that area, aligning land costs with development milestones. The agreement also grants Zone an option to purchase the data center site, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, and includes a long-term water supply agreement, co-terminous with the lease, drawing on the water rights appurtenant to the property.

The site is also in close proximity to two major natural gas pipelines and the Company believes it is well suited for a large-scale solar and battery plant that could add significant power capacity to the region. Additionally, the Company believes the site has favorable access to fiber services.

"This agreement gives Zone what matters most in AI infrastructure: land at scale, a faster path to power, and water, all secured under one long-term agreement with tremendous option value," said Tyler Hassen, Chief Executive Officer of Zone Frontier. "The attractive lease structure allows us to advance tenant acquisition, power and permitting work in a disciplined sequence, without committing any significant capital before the key pieces are in place. We appreciate working with the landowner and local community, and look forward to building a flagship campus in the Texas Panhandle. With this campus, we'll continue to invest in the local tax base, hiring, and the community more broadly."

"We are now focused on securing tenants, advancing permitting, and completing power and interconnection studies for the site," continued Hassen. "As tenant discussions progress, we will concurrently evaluate financing options with both co-investment equity partners and project finance lenders. We are also focused on ensuring this project delivers lasting benefits for the local community."

The Texas campus, sized to an initial 200 MW with potential to expand beyond 500 MW, is part of Zone's active and growing pipeline of AI infrastructure projects to support the rapidly increasing demand for compute power.

Zone's portfolio also includes its Minnesota data center campus, with an initial 10-year Colocation Services Agreement with Cerebras Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRS) and two 10-year potential extension options. This campus is making material construction progress and the Company expects to generate revenue beginning in the first half of 2027, consistent with previous guidance. Project finance discussions are also progressing concurrently, consistent with previous guidance.

The Company continues to actively evaluate additional development opportunities across rural and industrial areas of the United States.

For more information, visit www.zonefrontier.com.

About Zone Frontier Inc.
Zone Frontier Inc. (NYSE American: ZONE) is helping to build the critical infrastructure that powers the AI economy. Through a growing pipeline of projects, the Company aims to help meet the increasing demand for compute capacity, power, and digital infrastructure required by the world's leading AI companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the development, scale, power supply, water supply and timing of the Company's Texas data center campus, the Company's exercise of any purchase or extension options under the ground lease, the Company's business strategy and pipeline of projects, and the Company's expected transition to an AI infrastructure business. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by words such as "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "may," "will," "could," "should," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "focused on," "aims," "expand," "expected," "look forward," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release and are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability to secure tenants for its Texas data center campus; the Company's ability to obtain sufficient power, grid interconnection, water, and other utility inputs on acceptable terms and timelines; the adequacy, availability and enforceability of the water rights appurtenant to the property; the Company's ability to satisfy its obligations under the ground lease and related agreements; including rent commencement triggers, development conditions, and maintenance of the water supply agreement; risks related to the Company's ability to exercise the purchase option or extension options under the ground lease, including satisfaction of applicable conditions; the highly speculative and uncertain nature of the Company's AI critical infrastructure business; the Company's continued ability to successfully transition its business model from cleaning services; the Company's lack of operating history in the data center or computing infrastructure industry; the Company's limited experience in the data center and AI infrastructure industries; the Company's ability to obtain project-level debt financing on acceptable terms or at all; the status of the Company's operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity; and general economic, financial, capital market and industry conditions.

For a more complete discussion of risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Company's filings with the SEC, including the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Zone Frontier Inc. (NYSE AMERICAN: ZONE)

Investors seeking exposure to next-generation computing often choose between the specialized hardware of Cerebras Systems (CBRS -4.84%) and the quantum potential of IonQ (IONQ -1.98%) when deciding which is the better buy.

Cerebras focuses on massive AI chips that dwarf traditional processors, while IonQ builds systems using individual atoms to perform calculations. Both companies aim to redefine computing speed, but they operate at different stages of commercial maturity and target distinct technical challenges within the broader technology landscape.

The case for Cerebras SystemsCerebras Systems designs and sells AI compute systems within the semiconductor stocks space, built around its unique wafer-scale engine. It serves organizations in medical research and energy through on-premises sales and cloud-based inference access. The specialized nature of these massive chips often involves serving a limited number of high-value accounts.

In FY 2025, revenue reached approximately $510.0 million, representing a significant increase from nearly $290.3 million the previous year. This growth resulted in a net margin of approximately 46.6%, which measures how much revenue remains as profit after expenses. Net income for the period was roughly $237.8 million.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the current ratio is roughly 2.1x, meaning it has over twice as many short-term assets as liabilities. The debt-to-equity ratio is approximately -0.5x, indicating that total liabilities exceed shareholder equity. Free cash flow was nearly negative $392.8 million in FY 2025, representing the cash a company generates after accounting for capital expenditures.

The case for IonQIonQ provides quantum computing and networking infrastructure, utilizing trapped ions to solve complex problems. The company maintains commercial agreements with major cloud providers such as Amazon (AMZN -1.41%) and Microsoft (MSFT -1.35%). Management is actively working to expand its direct sales reach, though revenue concentration currently adds a layer of risk to the business.

In FY 2025, the company reported revenue of close to $130.0 million, a sharp jump from about $43.1 million in FY 2024. Despite this growth, it recorded a net loss of approximately $510.4 million, representing a net margin of nearly -392.6%, meaning expenses significantly exceed revenue as the company matures. The widening loss highlights the high research and development costs required to advance quantum hardware.

According to its December 2025 balance sheet, the current ratio is roughly 15.5x, reflecting a high amount of liquid assets relative to short-term obligations. The debt-to-equity ratio is approximately 0.0x, meaning the company carries almost no debt relative to its equity. Free cash flow for FY 2025 was nearly negative $299.6 million, as the business prioritizes technical development over immediate cash generation.

Risk profile comparisonCerebras Systems faces risks related to the intense competition in the AI hardware market, where established rivals have larger budgets and broader distribution networks. The company also deals with significant supply chain complexity, as its unique wafer-scale chips require specialized manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the specialized nature of its hardware carries risks of volatile sales cycles if large enterprise customers delay technology investments.

IonQ operates as an early-stage company with a history of operating losses, facing significant challenges in scaling quantum technology. The business faces intense global competition while remaining dependent on third-party cloud providers for its concentrated revenue. Integration risks from acquisitions like SkyWater Technology also increase operational complexity and management burden.

Valuation comparisonCerebras Systems appears more reasonably valued on a P/S ratio basis, while IonQ carries a higher premium despite its lack of a Forward P/E multiple.

MetricCerebras SystemsIonQForward P/EN/AN/AP/S ratio68.7x74.7xI'd go with IonQ, though Cerebras has become a more interesting company than it was even a few months ago. Since its IPO, Cerebras has signed a $20 billion multi-year compute deal with OpenAI, launched a partnership with AWS, and positioned itself as an alternative to Nvidia for AI inference workloads. That is a remarkable amount of commercial momentum in a short period of time.

But the stock has been down significantly since its IPO. Customer concentration risk has shifted rather than disappeared, and the business is still burning through cash despite turning net income positive in 2025.

IonQ offers something different: a diversified and growing customer base across government, enterprise, and international markets, a backlog that grew more than 500% year over year, and semiconductor manufacturing capabilities added through the SkyWater acquisition that could accelerate its hardware roadmap.

Both companies are early-stage and speculative. But IonQ's commercial diversification makes it the more comfortable starting point for a patient investor right now.

Deployment Combines Cerebras Wafer-Scale Compute with Gimlet’s Inference Cloud to Deliver Up to 3,000 Tokens per Second  | Source: Gimlet Labs; Cerebras Systems

SAN FRANCISCO and SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gimlet Labs and Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) today announced a collaboration to deliver a new class of ultrafast AI inference at massive scale. The collaboration brings together Cerebras’ wafer-scale compute with the Gimlet Cloud to deliver a purpose-built disaggregated inference cloud spanning datacenter infrastructure to developer APIs. Together, the companies plan to deliver speeds of up to 3,000 tokens per second for demanding agentic and real-time applications, with the first Cerebras-powered Gimlet Cloud datacenter expected to come online later this year.

In AI, speed drives user experience and engagement and shapes what users can build. For real-time applications, from voice and video AI to agents and assistants, latency can be the difference between an interaction that feels seamless and one that feels slow. Real-time AI feels like an active collaborator that is immediate, fluid and responsive. When AI responds in real time, users do more with it, stay longer and run higher value workloads. As a result, fast tokens are more valuable tokens.

Gimlet Cloud combines the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine with GPUs into an integrated inference solution. It uses advanced inference disaggregation technology to orchestrate model execution so each phase of inference runs on the silicon best suited to it. Together, these capabilities deliver a new class of fast inference optimized for production-scale agentic and real-time workloads.

“Inference speed matters. It determines how productive AI can be. Fast inference creates magical user experiences and opens new markets. By combining Gimlet’s multi-silicon software with the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine, we can run each phase of inference on the hardware best suited to it and plan to deliver up to 3,000 tokens per second at production scale,” said Zain Asgar, co-founder and CEO of Gimlet Labs.

“Combining the fastest tokens from Cerebras with the highest throughput GPUs delivers the best datacenter economics for everyone,” said Sean Lie, co-founder and CTO at Cerebras. “Everyone wants more high value tokens. Cerebras delivers the fastest AI inference in the world, and GPUs deliver high throughput. By making Cerebras a native part of its inference cloud, Gimlet will bring our industry leading speed and intelligent AI to more developers at production scale. We’re excited to build with Gimlet as a launch partner for CS-4, giving customers a direct path to our latest technology.”

The collaboration builds on joint customer engagements underway since last year and an integrated solution already serving tokens in private deployments.

Gimlet Labs will expand the collaboration with Cerebras to integrate software, infrastructure design, APIs, developer tooling, optimization, validation and production operations to make ultrafast inference broadly available through Gimlet Cloud.

To read Gimlet Labs’ blog on today’s news, go to: https://gimletlabs.ai/blog/cerebras-announcement.

About Gimlet Labs
Gimlet Labs' mission is to drive breakthrough improvements in AI performance that result in massive increases of compute available for AI workloads. Gimlet Labs' inference cloud is derived from its foundational research across the stack in order to enable the next generation of performant, scalable AI infrastructure. Its research combines theory and practice to push the boundaries of AI efficiency via techniques such as automated GPU kernel generation, workload orchestration and heterogeneous execution across diverse hardware. Gimlet is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures and headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, simply visit: gimletlabs.ai.

About Cerebras Systems
Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) builds the world’s fastest AI infrastructure. The Cerebras team of pioneering computer architects, computer scientists, AI researchers, and engineers of all types came together to make AI blisteringly fast through innovation and invention. Cerebras believes that when AI is fast, it will change the world. Leading global corporations, research institutes, and governments choose Cerebras to run their AI workloads. Cerebras solutions are available on premises and in the cloud. Visit cerebras.ai for more.

Cerebras Disclosure Information
Cerebras uses its blog (cerebras.ai/blog), investor relations page (investors.cerebras.ai), its X account (@cerebras), and its LinkedIn page (linkedin.com/company/cerebras-systems/) to disclose material nonpublic information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor these channels, in addition to following Cerebras press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, public conference calls and public webcasts.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed to be forward-looking, including, but not limited to, statements about: the collaboration with Gimlet Labs; plans to deliver up to 3,000 tokens per second; timing of when the datacenter will come online; Gimlet bringing industry leading speed and intelligent AI to more developers at production scale; plans to expand the collaboration to integrate software, infrastructure design, APIs, developer tooling, optimization, validation and production operations to make ultrafast inference broadly available through Gimlet Cloud; and any assumptions relating to the foregoing. The words "plans," "can," "may," "will," "shall," "should," "expects," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "objective," or "continue," or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern our expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond Cerebras’ control. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: Cerebras’ ability to sustain and manage its growth, access borrowings and other sources of capital on acceptable terms, and deploy available capital to support growth; its history of net losses and ability to achieve and maintain profitability; its limited operating history at its current scale and ability to accurately forecast revenue and appropriately budget and manage expenses; its ability to secure sufficient data center capacity and capital to support its cloud-based offerings; its dependence on a limited number of significant customers, including OpenAI, Group 42 Holding Ltd, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, and AWS, and the potential impact of any reduction in demand from, material adverse development in its relationships with, or failure to meet its obligations to, such customers, including under its Master Relationship Agreement with OpenAI; the timing, execution and expected benefits of its strategic customer, partner and financing arrangements; its historical reliance on sales of hardware systems and the early-stage, rapidly evolving market for its cloud-based offerings and AI infrastructure; its ability to launch new offerings and add new product capabilities; and its ability to compete effectively in the rapidly evolving and competitive market for AI computing solutions.

Cerebras’ actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and are based on information available to Cerebras together with Cerebras’ expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, beliefs, and assumptions as of such date. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Cerebras’ views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Cerebras undertakes no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Further information on potential risks that could affect actual results is included in Cerebras’ most recent filings with the SEC, including in Cerebras’ most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by visiting Cerebras’ Investor Relations website at investors.cerebras.ai or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Contact Information

Gimlet Labs
Amber Rowland
Media and Analyst Relations
[email protected]
+1-650-814-4560

Cerebras
Kriselle Laran
Media and Analyst Relations
[email protected] 

Sean Dorsey
Investor Relations
[email protected] 

Investors seeking exposure to the intelligence revolution often face a choice between hardware and software. Deciding between Cerebras Systems (CBRS +0.57%) and SoundHound AI (SOUN +1.50%) requires weighing different business models and risks.

Cerebras Systems focuses on the infrastructure layer, creating enormous chips that power complex data processing. SoundHound AI operates at the interface layer, providing voice-enabled technology for products and services. Both companies are scaling rapidly to meet the demands of an increasingly automated global economy.

The case for Cerebras SystemsCerebras Systems builds specialized infrastructure using its unique wafer-scale technology, which allows for massive processing power on a single chip. The company serves enterprises and researchers in fields like medical research, energy, and cryptography who require high-speed training and inference. Because its latest reports do not disclose major individual customers, the potential for hidden customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business.

In FY 2025, revenue reached about $510 million, representing a sharp growth of approximately 76% compared to the previous year. This performance led to net income of close to $239 million, marking a significant transition from the net loss of $482 million recorded in FY 2024. The shift to profitability suggests the company is gaining traction within the highly competitive market for semiconductor stocks.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, its current ratio was roughly 2.1x, which measures the ability to cover short-term liabilities with current assets. The debt-to-equity ratio was approximately negative 0.5x, a value indicating that total liabilities exceed shareholder equity. For the fiscal year ended in 2025, free cash flow was negative $393 million, showing that the company spent more on operations and equipment than it generated from sales.

The case for SoundHound AISoundHound AI provides voice and agentic technology that powers conversational interfaces for automotive manufacturers and service-based enterprises. The company recently expanded its capabilities by acquiring LivePerson in September 2026, integrating omnichannel engagement tools into its existing platform. Its growth model relies on royalties from hardware manufacturers and subscriptions from service providers, such as restaurants that use its smart ordering systems.

In FY 2025, the company reported revenue of approximately $168.9 million, which is an increase of nearly 100% over the previous year. While the business is growing fast, it reported a net loss of roughly $14 million for the period. This loss is a significant improvement from the $351 million net loss reported in FY 2024, indicating a trend toward narrowing its deficits as it scales.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the current ratio is close to 4.6x, suggesting a strong liquidity position for meeting short-term obligations. The debt-to-equity ratio is approximately 0.0x, meaning the company carries almost no debt relative to its equity. Free cash flow for FY 2025 was negative $103.1 million, reflecting the ongoing investments required to integrate recent acquisitions and develop new voice software features.

Risk profile comparisonCerebras Systems faces risks related to the intense competition from established giants in the semiconductor space. The company must constantly innovate its wafer-scale architecture to maintain a performance advantage over traditional chip designs used by larger rivals. Additionally, its negative shareholder equity and negative free cash flow suggest that the business remains dependent on its ability to maintain its recent swing toward net profitability.

SoundHound AI deals with risks involving the integration of multiple recent acquisitions, including Amelia and LivePerson. The company has a history of substantial net losses and relies on capital raises that could dilute current shareholders. Furthermore, it faces competition from massive technology firms like Alphabet (GOOG +1.20%), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN +0.04%), and Microsoft Corp (MSFT -0.53%), all of which have significant resources to develop competing voice and assistant technologies.

Valuation comparisonSoundHound AI appears more affordable based on revenue multiples, while Cerebras Systems carries a very high valuation relative to its future earnings estimates.

MetricCerebras SystemsSoundHound AIForward P/E217xn/aP/S ratio68.8x12.4xValuation metrics sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.

The P/S ratio, which measures market capitalization against sales over the past twelve months, shows a stark difference in how investors value these two firms.

SoundHound AI has been involved in speech recognition since being founded in 2005. In the past year, the company has chalked up impressive results, including counting 12 of the world's 15 largest banks, 4 of the 5 largest automakers, and 4 of the 5 largest airlines among its customers.

It's fair to question what competitive moat an AI speech recognition business has in an age where AI's capabilities are growing by leaps and bounds. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that larger competitors like Alphabet or Apple could take over the speech recognition space by leveraging their massive war chests and the popularity of their other products.

Still, for the current fiscal 2026, sales are seen rising 49% to $252 million, though with a wider net loss and negative free cash flow.

Cerebras has a strong niche in the AI explosion and should see incredible growth in the coming years. Cerebras has transformative partnerships with OpenAI and Amazon's AWS. Much of Cerebras's projected growth relies on the AI inference market growing from $66 billion last year to $292 billion by 2029. That's a huge potential market. Based partly on projections like that, Wall Street analyst consensus figures indicate Cerebras producing about $888 million in sales in fiscal 2026, exploding to about $3 billion in 2027 and $7.5 billion in 2028. The same estimates indicate Cerebras will move to consistent annual profitability as soon as 2028.

Cerebras comes at a steep premium based on its current P/S and earnings ratios, but its exceptionally fast growth should make those premiums seem less dramatic in a few years time for long term investors.

Cerebras Systems utilizes a massive wafer-scale engine to deliver high-performance AI inference and significant revenue growth. Rigetti Computing remains a pioneer in the quantum computing space, maintaining a high current ratio as it develops superconducting processors.

Artificial intelligence stocks continue to reshape the market in 2026 as investors hunt for long-term winners. Choosing between hardware powerhouse Cerebras Systems (CBRS +2.18%) and data specialist Innodata (INOD +0.28%) requires a look at two distinct strategies.

Cerebras designs massive, wafer-sized chips intended to power the next generation of artificial intelligence models. Meanwhile, Innodata provides the specialized human expertise and data engineering services that ensure those models are accurate and reliable. Both companies benefit from the same industry tailwinds, but their financial health and market valuations present starkly different paths.

The case for Cerebras SystemsCerebras sells AI computing infrastructure, including its unique wafer-scale platform that uses a single massive chip to accelerate processing speeds. Its customers are spread across North America and Europe, focusing on high-performance deployments for research and specialized cloud services. In its latest official filing, the company reported having 708 employees as of late 2025 to support its global mission of making advanced computing more accessible.

In FY 2025, revenue reached $510.0 million, representing significant revenue growth of roughly 75.7% over the prior year. While Cerebras reported a GAAP net income of $237.8 million, this was entirely driven by a $363.3 million one-time, non-cash accounting adjustment, masking an actual operating loss of $75.7 million.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was roughly -0.5x, which means total liabilities exceed shareholder equity. The current ratio, which measures a company's ability to pay short-term debts with short-term assets, was close to 2.1x. Free cash flow, or the cash left after paying for operating costs and capital investments, was negative $392.8 million for the fiscal year, though free cash flow equals cash flow from operations minus capital expenditures.

The case for InnodataInnodata provides the data engineering and human expertise necessary for building large-scale generative AI systems for the world's largest semiconductor stocks and software giants. The company counts five of the "Magnificent Seven" among its clients, including Alphabet (GOOGL +0.64%) (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN +1.00%). However, one major customer accounted for approximately 58% of total revenue in FY 2025, and customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business.

In FY 2025, revenue reached approximately $251.7 million, which is a revenue growth of nearly 47.6% compared to the previous year. Net income for the period was close to $32.2 million, resulting in a net margin of roughly 12.8%. While revenue increased, this net margin, which shows how much profit is kept from each dollar earned, saw a slight decrease from the 16.8% reported in FY 2024.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was 0.0x, indicating the company has no traditional debt relative to its equity. The current ratio stands at approximately 2.7x, suggesting a healthy ability to cover upcoming bills with liquid assets. Free cash flow was nearly $35.6 million, though note that stock-based compensation represented roughly 23.8% of operating cash flow, which inflates reported cash generation since this is a non-cash expense.

Risk profile comparisonCerebras faces intense competition in the AI hardware space from established giants such as Nvidia (NVDA +1.34%). The company must continue to innovate its wafer-scale technology to justify its high development costs and keep pace with rival hardware. Additionally, it faces risks associated with scaling its manufacturing processes and maintaining a consistent pipeline of enterprise customers to reach sustainable positive cash flow.

Innodata deals with extreme revenue concentration, as a single client provides more than half of its annual revenue and accounts receivable. It also navigates a rapidly changing technological landscape where it competes with massive firms like Accenture (ACN -4.73%) and Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH -3.25%). Geopolitical risks are also prominent, as the company operates in over 70 countries and faces legacy litigation in the Philippines that could impact its financial position.

Valuation comparisonMetricCerebras SystemsInnodataForward P/EN/A45.5xP/S ratio69.7x7.1xValuation metrics sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.

I'd go with Innodata. While Cerebras is grabbing headlines with wafer-scale chips and OpenAI deals, Innodata has spent 12 consecutive quarters doing something harder to find in AI: growing consistently and becoming more profitable along the way. A broadening customer base keeps reducing its concentration risk, and the addition of a major frontier AI lab as a new customer adds a dimension to the story that most investors have not fully priced in yet.

Cerebras is doing technically impressive work, building inference chips that are faster than most alternatives. A multibillion-dollar supply deal with OpenAI signals serious institutional demand. Revenue nearly doubled year over year, and the company raised its full-year outlook after going public in May.

But Cerebras is still losing money, gross margins are shrinking as it scales, and the stock has dropped sharply since its IPO despite strong results. The pattern suggests investors are not yet convinced the business model holds up at scale.

For investors with patience and a long horizon, Innodata's proven execution and improving profitability make it the more comfortable place to put your money right now.

Cerebras Systems (CBRS +2.32%) has been cut in half. Shares of the artificial intelligence (AI) computing specialist peaked at $386.34 on their first day of trading in May, a day after the company priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $185 and raised $6.4 billion. As of this writing, the stock trades around $184 -- about 52% below the high, and just under that IPO price.

A decline like that usually follows a stumble: a guidance cut, a lost customer, a bad quarter. Cerebras hasn't had one. Shares dropped double digits anyway the day after its mid-August update, arguably the company's strongest yet and one in which management raised its outlook for the year.

Yet even at half price, the stock costs about 145 times the earnings analysts expect the company to generate next year.

What did the fall reprice -- the business, or just the price tag?

Image source: Getty Images.

Growth hasn't been the problemIt wasn't the business. In its mid-August update, Cerebras reported core revenue (a measure that strips out pass-through data center revenue and adds back a noncash deduction tied to customer warrants) of $209.9 million, up 103% year over year, with core gross margin improving to 41% and core operating margin to negative 16%. In other words, the company still loses money, but far less of it on every dollar of sales. And management raised its full-year outlook to a range of $880 million to $890 million in core revenue, up from a prior range of $855 million to $865 million.

The cloud business is driving the growth, and the growth is accelerating. Cloud and other services revenue, as reported under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), was $33 million in the year-ago quarter, about $83 million in this year's first quarter, and $126 million in the second, up 281% year over year. Renting out computing is increasingly the story -- the cloud side supplied 70% of the company's reported revenue in the latest quarter, up from about a third a year ago.

Whatever cut the stock in half, it wasn't the fundamentals.

The valuation did the fallingWhat changed is what buyers will pay for that growth. Analysts expect Cerebras to earn about $1.25 per share next year.

At around $184, the stock costs about 145 times those expected earnings. And measured against the same estimate, May's $386.34 peak worked out to about 310 times next year's expected earnings.

That, I'd argue, is the honest reading of the sell-off. Investors didn't mark down Cerebras' business. They marked down what they were willing to pay for it. Even now, buyers are paying for profits that are still mostly forecast.

What has to go right?For today's price to make sense, earnings have to grow into it. Suppose the stock eventually traded at 30 times earnings -- still a premium price for most businesses. At about $184 per share, Cerebras would need to earn about $6 per share annually, nearly five times what analysts expect for next year.

The bull case is that much of the growth needed to get there is already under contract. Cerebras ended June with $25.4 billion in remaining performance obligations (work customers have committed to pay for but the company hasn't yet delivered), much of it tied to a single agreement under which OpenAI committed to purchase 750 megawatts of AI computing capacity. Cerebras expects about $5.6 billion of that balance, or 22% of it, to become revenue over the 24 months ending June 30, 2028.

"We have made rapid progress in key areas required to deliver exceptional growth ... and plan to more than triple revenue in 2027," chief financial officer Bob Komin said in the company's second-quarter earnings release.

Sure, revenue could triple next year. The contracts support it. But revenue isn't earnings.

Today's Change

(

2.32

%) $

4.27

Current Price

$

188.30

After all, Cerebras ran a core operating loss last quarter even with sales doubling, and most of the backlog converts after mid-2028. The profits the price depends on are still years of execution away, and the timing can shift.

So, what did the halving reprice? Mostly the price tag. The business is in better shape than it was in the spring, and the backlog gives Cerebras' growth plans unusual visibility.

But at about 145 times next year's expected earnings, the stock still assumes years of rapid growth and a smooth swing to profitability, and it leaves little room for the timing to slip.

Ultimately, cut in half isn't the same as cheap. I'd stay on the sidelines at this price. If Cerebras starts turning that backlog into profits, and not just revenue, I'd take another look.