AI in action · Markets
Cerebras Revenue Rose 55% and Its Shares Jumped 18% Late
Cerebras reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $210.8 million, up 55%, on November 12, and its shares rose about 18% in after-hours trading.
A week ago, Cerebras Systems was one of the most sold AI stocks on Nasdaq, down about 18% in five sessions before its results and the end of its main IPO lockup. On Thursday, November 12, the wafer-scale chipmaker gave buyers a reason to come back. Its third-quarter revenue rose 55% from a year earlier to $210.8 million under standard accounting, according to the earnings release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the shares were up 18.34% at 7:59 p.m. New York time, StockTitan reported, after falling 3.29% in the regular session.
The growth has moved from selling machines to renting them. Revenue from cloud and other services rose 265% to $141.9 million, while hardware sales fell to $68.9 million from $96.8 million. That shift explains most of the other numbers. Standard gross margin halved to 20.0% from 40.6%, because the cost of building data-centre capacity lands before the rental income, and the company lost $161.2 million, or 67 cents a share, against $22.2 million a year earlier. On the adjusted "core" measures that management prefers, revenue was $230.9 million, above its own $214 million to $216 million guidance, and the company earned $29.8 million.
The forward numbers are what moved the stock. Cerebras guided fourth-quarter core revenue to $310 million to $330 million, roughly 40% above the third quarter at the midpoint, and full-year 2026 core revenue to $940 million to $960 million. Chief executive Andrew Feldman said he expects revenue to triple in 2027. Remaining performance obligations, the value of signed contracts not yet delivered, stood at $26.1 billion at the end of September, more than 25 times this year's expected revenue. The company also announced a cloud deal with one of the three largest hyperscalers, without naming it, and an integration into Oracle's cloud for 2027.
There are reasons for caution in the same filing. Cerebras holds $7.8 billion of cash and short-term investments, but it has committed to 700 megawatts of data-centre capacity by the end of 2027, which will consume a large part of it. A contract backlog this large relative to revenue also depends on a small number of buyers honouring multi-year commitments. And the main lockup on pre-IPO shares is ending around now, which can add supply just as the price recovers.
For anyone following AI hardware, the useful comparison is Nebius, which reported on the same day and fell 16% despite beating forecasts. Both are building capacity ahead of demand. The market rewarded the one whose guidance rose faster than its spending and punished the one whose spending plan outran its guidance.
Sources: SEC EDGAR — Cerebras Systems Form 8-K, third-quarter 2026 results; StockTitan — Stock market today, November 12, 2026; Closing Look — Thursday, November 12, 2026