Shares of Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) have jumped more than 11% premarket after the company raised its second-quarter guidance.
The company said it is experiencing a strong market and end customer demand for its rack-scale, AI and Total IT Solutions in the second quarter, ended December 31. As a result, it now sees net sales coming in from $3.6 billion to $3.65 billion, up from the previous guidance range of $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion.
In addition, adjusted earnings per share are now expected to come in between $5.40 and $5.55, up from $4.40 to $4.88.
Reacting to the release, analysts at Barclays raised their price target for the stock to $396 from $335, maintaining an Overweight rating. They told investors that SMCI likely shipped 9,000 AI servers in the December quarter, consistent with the bank's supply chain checks, driven by both improving GPU supply and strong AI demand.
"We think March-Q growth should be at least in line with historical seasonality, which points to MSD growth Q/Q. With the full-year revenue tracking above $14B, we expect another FY24 guidance increase when SMCI reports in late January," they added.
Meanwhile, analysts at Rosenblatt lifted their firm's SMCI price target to $550 from $430, maintaining a Buy rating on the stock.
The analysts said liquid cooling and strategic hyperscale engagement are likely driving upside. "The ~$800 million upside to guidance for the December quarter (70% sales growth q/q vs. consensus of 30%), we see as not in the realm of incremental "allocation" from Nvidia within the quarter," they wrote.
"Although we believe Supermicro got, again, an unfair share of that goodness vs. Asian ODM players, upside likely was driven by hyperscale 'allocations.'"