Cerebras Posts First Positive Core Earnings, Beats Q3 Estimates and Raises Outlook; Shares Jump

CBRS reported third-quarter 2026 results on November 12 showing core revenue of $230.9 million, up 70% from a year earlier and about 10% from the prior quarter, against a consensus of $214.7 million (CNBC, ). Core net income was about $30 million, the AI chipmaker's first positive result on that non-GAAP measure, and adjusted EPS of $0.13 compared with an expected loss (8-K, ). On a GAAP basis, revenue was $210.8 million and the company still lost $161.2 million, or $0.67 per share.

The outlook drove the reaction. Cerebras guided fourth-quarter core revenue to $310 million to $330 million, well above the roughly $271 million analysts expected according to CNBC, with core gross margin of 47% to 49%, per the company's release. It raised full-year core revenue guidance to $940 million to $960 million and said it expects to roughly triple revenue in 2027 (CNBC). Remaining performance obligations stand at $26.1 billion, mostly tied to OpenAI under a 750 MW take-or-pay contract, and management cited commercial wins with two new hyperscalers.

On customers, CNBC and MarketScreener report that a Microsoft deal was signed in October, with revenue starting in the first quarter of 2027, while an Oracle Cloud inference service is due to launch in summer 2027; executives said Oracle is not yet in the backlog. Management also acknowledged OpenAI capacity delays tied to land, power and data-center shells, and said deployments should be back on schedule by the second half of 2027.

Shares rose about 17% to 19% in premarket trading on November 13, after an after-hours gain of roughly 13% to 17%. The stock was still down about 47% from its May IPO price before the report, per CNBC. Execution on the OpenAI buildout, the timing of Microsoft revenue, and whether core margins hold as volumes scale are the next markers.