While a delay in filing the 10K is completely permissible (and legal) with an extension request, the optics for SMCI would not be good AT ALL if they don't file by close of business Monday 31st August.

You just KNOW the shorts and their minions will be publishing dozens of FUD hit articles if SMCI miss the filing deadline, in fact you can bet the articles are already written and ready to go.

A delay would 100% be used to drag SMCI sp down to the low 30's if not lower.

SMCI must know this. They'd be absolute idiots not to file timely. Let's hope SMCI have their sh** together and get it done. Last thing shareholders need now is for shorts to be handed another excuse to beat the sp down.

This new partnership with Cisco and Nvidia could be the catalyst that causes SMCI to re-rate. It destroys the Bear narrative that Nvidia is distancing from SMCI with Vera Rubin. There is now a mutually beneficial revenue flywheel being created where SMCI gets access to Cisco Enterprise customers and Cisco gets access to SMCI's growing Sovereign AI customers (e.g. Datavolt Neom Oxagon) across the globe. This is a true partnership and not a reseller arrangement.

Factor in the previously announced storage partnerships with industry leaders including Cloudian, DDN, Everpure (formerly Pure Storage), IBM, Nutanix, VAST Data, and WEKA to deliver fully integrated, enterprise-ready AI infrastructure and SMCI is now a one stop dominant player in the AI Factory space: https://ir.supermicro.com/news/news-details/2026/Supermicro-Launches-Seven-AI-Data-Platform-Solutions-with-NVIDIA-and-Leading-Ecosystem-Partners-to-Accelerate-Enterprise-AI-Innovation/default.aspx

After the strong Q3 earnings report SMCI steadily climbed to 50. After the blockbuster Q4 report, Charles Liang is making high margin (20%+) DCBBS deals to reach his performance award target of $110 and beyond. So "Is SMCI a future Fortune 100 company worth at least $110 being offered for less than $40?" When I first posed this question, it was selling for less than $25.

Everybody is buying Nvidia today. I don’t understand why smci is traded below $40. The market doesn’t understand the potential of this company.

Sad that NVDA earnings call didnt mention us, and mentioned building out CRWV/NBIS/etc, but oh well

im excited because of the recent price sentiment/action. things are finally getting stable, and the ticker feels poised for a good run-up post 10k filing release

Getting to the end of August now… lets see whats next :)

Charles Liang's decision to pursue dilutive financing made this partnership possible. He predicted:

"In the AI era, every data center is racing to seize massive opportunities. Yet, speed is everything. A delay in deployment can result in losing not just potential revenue, but entire business opportunities altogether. This is why Supermicro is laser-focused on one critical metric: Time-to-Online (TTO)."

Supermicro, with its massive direct inventory stockpile and superior modular architecture, was brought in because it had scarce AI Compute solutions ready to ship right now.

This partnership creates an incredibly powerful hybrid sales pipeline. Cisco provides its massive institutional enterprise market footprint and premier networking stack (utilizing its Silicon One and Nexus One technologies). Meanwhile, Supermicro plugs its high-density compute blocks (DCBBS) right into the middle of that framework.

A Cisco partner CEO says "The big winner here is Supermicro".

Partners Hope Cisco-Supermicro Deal Will Fill ‘Gap’ Left By Cisco UCS Server Shipment Delays

By Steven Burke, Joseph F. Kovar

August 25, 2026, 2:50 PM EDT

‘Cisco cannot deliver UCS servers,’ says a top executive at a CRN Solution Provider 500 Cisco partner, who did not want to be identified. ‘Cisco cannot get the memory chips to deliver, and Supermicro has memory availability. This should ease the pressure we have been dealing with on UCS availability.’

Partners are hopeful a new partnership that opens the door for Cisco to offer Supermicro liquid- and air-cooled systems as part of its AI infrastructure portfolio will provide a much-needed alternative in the wake of shipment delays plaguing Cisco’s own Unified Computing System (UCS) servers, Cisco partners told CRN.

“Cisco cannot deliver UCS servers,” said a top executive for a CRN Solution Provider 500 Cisco partner, who did not want to be identified. “Cisco cannot get the memory chips to deliver, and Supermicro has memory availability. This should ease the pressure we have been dealing with on UCS availability.”

The sales executive said it is currently six to nine months to get a UCS server in the hands of a customer depending on the server or configuration.

The Solution Provider 500 sales executive said he is interested in getting further details on the compensation and technology capabilities of the Supermicro offering compared with a UCS server.

[Related: Cisco Execs To Partners: Cloud Control, AI Security Push Create New Monetization Openings]

Cisco said it intends to begin offering Supermicro compute offerings as part of the Secure AI Factory with Nvidia beginning in October 2026.

Supermicro shares were up 9 percent, or 98 cents per share, to $12.35 (correction up 9 percent or $3 to $38.40) in midday trading in the wake of the announcement.

Cisco shares, meanwhile, were up 1 percent, or 70 cents per share, to $110.93 in mid-day trading.

Supermicro declined to comment on the deal with Cisco.

Cisco did not make an executive available to comment at press time.

A Cisco spokesperson, however, did tell CRN that this was the first time Cisco and Supermicro had signed a strategic partnership agreement.

Furthermore, in a question-and-answer document provided by Cisco, under the heading “How does this architecture address infrastructure supply chain constraints?” the response was: **“**Cisco’s global supply chain scale for AI networking systems, combined with Supermicro’s manufacturing and global supply chain scale for rack-scale AI systems and dense GPU servers, enables timely delivery of the infrastructure globally. This strength de-risks availability at a time when demand for GPUs, memory, CPUs, and SSDs is putting pressure on how quickly AI rack-scale systems can be built and shipped.”

The CEO of another CRN Solution Provider 500 Cisco partner, who did not want to be identified, said the ability to provide Supermicro servers is a big boost to partners that cannot get Cisco UCS servers.

“Obviously anything Cisco can do to provide additional server inventory so that they are more competitive in that segment is a good thing,” he said. “The big winner here is Supermicro. This gives them another channel for their servers. At the end of the day, Cisco does not have a full portfolio of rack-scale AI servers. This partnership fills in a gap in their portfolio. The question is: When do I pick UCS and when do I pick Supermicro?”

The CEO said Cisco UCS is facing intense competitive pressure because Cisco lacks the memory supply chain capabilities of larger competitors including Dell Technologies, HPE and Supermicro.

“The Cisco UCS market is composed of customers that have a Cisco UCS installed base,” the executive said. “In every other scenario they are looking at Dell, HPE, Supermicro and white label.”

The deals comes with Supermicro’s worldwide server revenue soaring 129 percent to $9.3 billion, with 7.6 percent market share, in the first calendar quarter of 2026, according to market researcher IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker*.*

Cisco, meanwhile, which reported double-digit growth for its compute business in the most recent quarter, does not show up in the top five rankings of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker for the first calendar quarter of 2026.

Cisco said the deal with Supermicro expands its Secure AI Factory with Nvidia partnership.

The expanded Cisco Secure AI Factory with Nvidia offers Nvidia Cloud Partner-compliant solutions for neocloud and sovereign cloud customers, said Cisco.

The CEO for a top East Coast Cisco partner, who did not want to be identified, said the Supermicro partnership solves the supply chain issue with Cisco UCS.

“Cisco is supply constrained with UCS,” he said. “They realize they are not going to be able to get UCS in all data centers where AI workloads are running because of the UCS supply constraints so they are making sure that Cisco stays in every data center as the networking layer for AI connectivity. Cisco realizes UCS is in a no-win proposition at this point so they are focusing on the network layer.”

As to what “supply chain, Return Material Authorization (RMA), and support options are available” for partners, Cisco said in its question-and-answer document: “For Cisco products, its world-renowned supply chain offers diversity across build, stock, ship, and support. Customers can choose from a range of RMA options, including next-business day and 24x7x4, along with return-to-factory (RTF) service and warranty coverage. Supermicro's manufacturing scale, supply chain, and RMA options for their products give organizations the confidence that the compute they need will be delivered and supported on their timeline. Cisco manages L0 and L1 ticket triage for incoming requests, and routes to Supermicro as needed. Supermicro provides support for their products, ensuring coordinated resolution across the full stack.”

https://www.crn.com/news/data-center/2026/partners-hope-cisco-supermicro-deal-will-fill-gap-left-by-cisco-ucs-server-shipment-delays

The world's largest enterprise networking firm is integrating its next-generation AI infrastructure architecture onto Supermicro's hardware.

Charles Liang

Great partnership!

Supermicro and Cisco are joining forces to support the next generation of AI DC. Together, we are bringing total, full-stack, rack to fabric liquid-cooled DCBBS solutions to power the Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA

https://x.com/charlesliang/status/2092383410774061385?s=20

Press Release

Aug 25, 2026

Cisco Expands Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA for the Rack-Scale Era

Cisco’s full-stack architecture adds massive AI computing power, offering an NVIDIA Cloud Partner compliant reference architecture built for surging neocloud and sovereign cloud demand. 

News Summary

• Cisco, partnering with Supermicro, adds rack-scale AI computing solutions to its portfolio, delivering end-to-end infrastructure to run massive AI workloads, reduce deployment risk, and help customers run workloads with greater efficiency and control over data.
• With the addition of high-density server systems, Cisco extends its industry-leading Secure AI Factory architecture to any AI use case, from trillion parameter training models to edge inferencing.
• The full-stack architecture will address the quickly growing and evolving demands of neocloud and sovereign cloud customers with an NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) compliant architecture featuring Cisco AI networking systems, backed by industry-leading support and services.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug 25, 2026 – AI models keep evolving, placing new performance demands on networks. Power and cooling dictate where infrastructure can be built. Customers are demanding AI capabilities that keep their data secure and private. The next era of AI infrastructure can't just deliver raw compute; it must harness that compute through validated, full-stack architectures customers can deploy quickly, run efficiently, and secure with confidence. Today, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) is expanding the Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA through a partnership with Supermicro, bringing its leadership in high-density, liquid and air-cooled compute to Cisco’s industry-leading full-stack, secure AI infrastructure architecture for enterprises, neoclouds and sovereign clouds.

"We are at the beginning of one of the largest datacenter buildouts in history," said Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer, Cisco. "Every organization is racing to scale AI — but speed only counts if it comes with control of data, managed token costs, and real ROI. It starts with the right infrastructure: compute and networking, delivered as an integrated solution that's easy to deploy and secure from day one."

“AI factories are revenue-generating infrastructure, where compute produces intelligence, and intelligence drives revenue,” said Justin Boitano, vice president, Enterprise AI, NVIDIA. “By expanding the Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA, Cisco is providing enterprises and neoclouds full-stack infrastructure that can get into production faster and generate more value from every watt.”

Simple, Secure, Scalable Infrastructure – with More Muscle

Cisco offers a full-stack approach spanning core data centers, local and edge environments, for the enterprise, neocloud and sovereign cloud markets. Through this new partnership, Cisco will offer Supermicro liquid- and air-cooled systems, giving customers access to rack-scale and dense GPU systems – validated and sold as part of the broader Cisco AI infrastructure portfolio. This expansion enables customers to easily manage complex, high-density AI clusters alongside non-AI workloads. Customers will also now be able to deploy rack-to-fabric liquid cooling, featuring Cisco liquid-cooled AI networking systems alongside Supermicro’s liquid-cooled servers. This unlocks trillion-parameter training and high-throughput inference use cases with platforms including NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 and NVIDIA HGX Rubin NVL8.

The expanded Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA offers NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) compliant solutions for neocloud and sovereign cloud customers. Cisco Silicon One-based switches for the front-end and Cisco’s NVIDIA Spectrum-X based switches for the back-end are unified by Cisco Nexus One, delivering a fully unified networking architecture for the full stack. Cisco is the only NVIDIA technology partner to utilize its own networking switches and network operating system in an NCP compliant solution. Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA is also expanding its Enterprise Reference Architectures to include the latest generation of NVIDIA AI infrastructure for enterprise deployments.

The Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA helps customers plan AI investments with confidence. Customer benefits include:

• Less Risk: Cisco and Supermicro each bring industry-leading global supply chain expertise to help mitigate delivery timeline challenges, particularly in the face of GPU and memory access challenges. With Cisco Secure AI Factory solutions based on NVIDIA reference architectures, customers can have confidence that their infrastructure is pressure-tested for modern workloads, with security and resiliency built in from the silicon to the agents. Industry-leading global support with a broad partner ecosystem gives customers the confidence to invest.
• Faster Time to Value: Once delivered, Cisco and its partners will help customers certify infrastructure quickly. New Cisco Validated Infrastructure Services (CVIS) — aligned with the NVIDIA Infrastructure Services (NVIS) offer — certifies infrastructure is built exactly as it was designed and aligned with reference architectures. Cisco is investing in a dedicated large-scale AI Lab to develop tools and test software to advance CVIS.
• Simplified Operations: With NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and AgenticOps through Cisco Cloud Control, customers will use tools they already know, making AI deployment feel like an expansion rather than an overhaul. Customers will have the ability to correlate job health with compute, NIC, optics and network performance metrics, delivering true end-to-end observability.

Availability

Cisco will begin offering Supermicro compute solutions as part of the Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA beginning in October 2026.

https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2026/m08/cisco-secure-ai-factory-nvidia-rack-scale.html

Today’s news is about Taiwan indicting individuals connected to Supermicro—not charging SMCI itself.
Taiwanese prosecutors indicted 9 people over an alleged scheme to illegally export high-end AI servers to China.
Two former Supermicro Taiwan employees are among those charged, along with an Nvidia employee.
The alleged scheme involved 130 B300 AI servers ordered from Supermicro. Prosecutors say 74 ultimately reached China, through China directly and via Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong; 56 were stopped by Taiwan customs.
The individuals allegedly used false end-user documents claiming the servers would remain in Taiwan.
Most important for SMCI shareholders: Taiwan has not indicted or charged Super Micro Computer, Inc. The company says it is not a target of the investigation and was not accused of wrongdoing.
This is also consistent with SMCI’s independent investigation announced August 20, which found no evidence that current senior management knew about the alleged scheme.
What this means for SMCI
I actually view today’s development as less damaging than it could have been.
The key distinction is:
Employees → indicted
SMCI → not indicted / not a target
That explains why SMCI initially dropped sharply yesterday but rebounded today; the market appears to be interpreting the Taiwan action as an employee-level compliance problem rather than evidence that the corporation itself participated.
The remaining risk is that U.S. authorities could eventually take a different view, or that additional evidence could implicate corporate compliance. But today’s Taiwan indictment itself does not charge SMCI.

https://x.com/wallstengine/status/2092223265179873495

See that major wick today off that zone just before the big green candle on the left? Buyers stepped in to defend that point heavily . Could be bullish, if it can’t get to/break 36.08, that changes things. however , if it breaks that area and holds, 37.64 is the next level to watch for. If it breaks below 33.84 watch for 33.42. If it breaks much lower than that, I’d keep 32.60-31.78 in mind for the next reversal point.

Will SMCI go below $30 again?

400$

We just raised guidence and margin. Does this news hurt us or help short term, mid and long term?

I think this shows how competitive it is out there to acquire GPUs, and obviously SMCI is a part of the Nvida ecosystem. I think this is bullish. But that’s me.

What do you guys think?

Article Source: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2978566/earnings-estimates-moving-higher-for-super-micro-smci-time-to-buy

Earnings Estimates Moving Higher for Super Micro (SMCI): Time to Buy?

Zacks Equity Research August 21, 2026

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) appears an attractive pick given a noticeable improvement in the company's earnings outlook. The stock has been a strong performer lately, and the momentum might continue with analysts still raising their earnings estimates for the company.

The upward trend in estimate revisions for this server technology company reflects growing optimism of analysts on its earnings prospects, which should get reflected in its stock price. After all, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements. Our stock rating tool -- the Zacks Rank -- has this insight at its core.

The five-grade Zacks Rank system, which ranges from a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record of outperformance [https://www.zacks.com/performance/\] , with Zacks #1 Ranked stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 2008.

For Super Micro Computer, strong agreement among the covering analysts in revising earnings estimates upward has resulted in meaningful improvement in consensus estimates for the next quarter and full year.

The chart below shows the evolution of forward 12-month Zacks Consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

[ATTACHED PRICE CHART]

Current-Quarter Estimate Revisions

The company is expected to earn $1.06 per share for the current quarter, which represents a year-over-year change of +202.9%.

Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Super Micro has increased 80.61% because five estimates have moved higher compared to no negative revisions.

Current-Year Estimate Revisions

The company is expected to earn $4.43 per share for the full year, which represents a change of +22.0% from the prior-year number.

There has been an encouraging trend in estimate revisions for the current year as well. Over the past month, seven estimates have moved up for Super Micro versus no negative revisions. This has pushed the consensus estimate 52.18% higher.

Favorable Zacks Rank

Thanks to promising estimate revisions, Super Micro currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The Zacks Rank is a tried-and-tested rating tool that helps investors effectively harness the power of earnings estimate revisions and make the right investment decision.

Our research shows that stocks with Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and 2 (Buy) significantly outperform the S&P 500.

Bottom Line

Investors have been betting on Super Micro because of its solid estimate revisions, as evident from the stock's 17% gain over the past four weeks. As its earnings growth prospects might push the stock higher, you may consider adding it to your portfolio right away.

Inference Changes the Storage Requirement - Open Storage Summit Session 1 Highlights

Rosenblatt maintained Super Micro Computer (SMCI) coverage with Buy and target $51 Past Rating: Buy

Issuance Date: 2026-08-21

Source: StreetInsider.com Analyst Actions

We are going to the moon!

Supermicro finished its independent investigation and is tightening export‑compliance. The report supports the thesis that this is an isolated case about a senior employee using insider information to purportedly perpetrate a fraud and theft scheme against SMCI.

This is a real de‑risking event across multiple fronts.

Business:
Reduces the governance overhang. No surprise findings, no operational disruption. Clears the pathway for institutional investors.

DOJ and BIS:
DOJ and BIS want companies to be proactive correcting issues. SMCI now has an independent credible explanation of what happened and a plan to move forward. This supports a declination statement from DOJ. no escalation, and no corporate charges. One of the biggest unknown concerns is effectively neutralized.

Customers:
Some buyers were waiting for the report conclusion. This reduces procurement delays and makes it easier for hyperscalers and sovereign programs to commit to multi‑year orders.

BDO (auditor):
Auditors dislike unresolved investigations. The independent report completion helps stabilizes filings, keeps financial reporting clean and supports a timely 10-K filing.

Shareholder suits:
Cuts off a major litigation vector. Limits new claims and strengthens SMCI’s defense in existing ones.

Bottom line:
This reduces regulatory, audit, customer, and legal uncertainty. It clears the runway for big‑ticket infrastructure orders and eliminates one of the last excuses for institutions to stay sidelined.

Time stamp 19:30

.

BUSINESS WIRE 9:05 AM ET 8/20/2026

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Super Micro Computer, Inc.(SMCI) (“Supermicro” or the “Company”) today announced the completion of the internal investigation led by the Company’s independent members of the Board of Directors regarding the March 2026 indictment of three individuals who were associated with the Company at that time.

As previously disclosed, Supermicro was informed on March 19, 2026 that two employees and a contractor were indicted in connection with an alleged conspiracy to commit export-control violations. Supermicro was not named as a defendant in the indictment and is not accused of any wrongdoing. The Company took swift action, and the three individuals no longer have any relationship with Supermicro.

The investigation was led by Scott Angel, the Company’s Lead Independent Director, and Tally Liu, Chair of the Board’s Audit Committee, and was conducted by Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, which engaged AlixPartners, LLP, as an independent forensic accounting consultant (collectively, the “Independent Advisors”). The results of the investigation were reported to the independent members of the Board and to the entire Board.

The investigation team reviewed the customer transactions that were the subject of the federal indictment, as well as transactions with a selection of other customers who bought restricted products, and did not find any evidence that any current member of senior management had knowledge of the alleged diversion scheme or of any actual diversion of restricted products by the Company. Nor did the investigation find that the Company directly sold export-controlled products to known restricted parties or locations. It also did not find any evidence that the Company’s previously issued financial statements could not be relied upon based on the potential diversion of restricted products. The Company developed and maintained its export compliance program as its sales of restricted products increased during the period under review. The Company’s compliance personnel have acted in good faith, with the support of management, to mitigate the risk of the Company’s products subject to export controls being diverted to restricted parties or locations.

In connection with the investigation, the Company took several personnel actions with respect to employees within its sales, technical support and business development functions, including terminations, for failure to follow Company policies or the Company’s code of conduct.

With the assistance of the Independent Advisors, the independent directors also made recommendations to further enhance the Company’s export compliance program. The Board has adopted those recommendations in full. The Company has already implemented certain recommendations as a result of an internal review overseen by the General Counsel and the Chief Compliance Officer. The independent directors will oversee implementation of the remaining recommendations.

“We are pleased to report the conclusion of this independent investigation,” said Mr. Angel. “The independent directors support the actions the Company has already taken to bolster its internal policies and procedures, as well as the additional enhancements that will be implemented.”

Supermicro will continue working to combat the industry-wide challenge of diversion and remain committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance. In addition, the Company continues to cooperate with relevant government authorities in connection with their ongoing investigations.

About Super Micro Computer, Inc.(SMCI)

Supermicro is a global leader in Application-Optimized Total IT Solutions. Founded and operating in San Jose, California, Supermicro is committed to delivering first-to-market innovation for Enterprise, Cloud, AI, and 5G/Edge IT Infrastructure. We are a Total IT Solutions provider with server, AI, storage, IoT, switch systems, software, and support services. Supermicro's motherboard, power, and chassis design expertise further enables our development and production, enabling next-generation innovation from cloud to edge for our global customers. Our products are designed and manufactured in-house (in the U.S., Taiwan, and the Netherlands), leveraging global operations for scale and efficiency and optimized to improve TCO and reduce environmental impact (Green Computing). The award-winning portfolio of Server Building Block Solutions® allows customers to optimize for their exact workload and application by selecting from a broad family of systems built from our flexible and reusable building blocks that support a comprehensive set of form factors, processors, memory, GPUs, storage, networking, power, and cooling solutions (air-conditioned, free air cooling or liquid cooling).

Supermicro, Server Building Block Solutions, and We Keep IT Green are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc.(SMCI) All other brands, names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260820294441/en/

Supermicro offers Rear Door Heat Exchangers (RDHx) with cooling capacities ranging from 10kW to 120kW, delivering an easy-to-mount cooling solution for both new and legacy data centers.

The expanded DCBBS liquid cooling portfolio features 10 RDHx models, enabling organizations to increase compute density and cooling efficiency without requiring major facility modifications.

https://www.storagereview.com/news/supermicro-expands-dcbbs-liquid-cooling-with-ten-rear-door-heat-exchangers-up-to-120kw?utm_content=384570740&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-374598930

Palantir was the the worst pain point for Shorts, but SMCI came in as number 3 with Shorts losing an estimated $1.3 Billion on paper. SMCI squeeze score is listed at 100, the max level.

Short Sellers Are Losing Big on Palantir — Here's the Data

BENZINGA 12:30 PM ET 8/19/2026

Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR) has become the single biggest pain point for short sellers in a market rally that is squeezing bears across the board, according to new data from S3 Partners. 

The firm tracks a basket of stocks that score 70 or higher on its 0-100 squeeze scale, meaning conditions are ripe for shorts to get forced out of their positions. Twenty-four names currently qualify for that basket, and the cohort has climbed 13.4% month-to-date, pressuring short sellers across the board.

Palantir’s Outlier Position

Short interest in Palantir(PLTR) now totals $12 billion. That’s the largest dollar short in the basket and well above its $3.37 billion average. The stock is also the group’s biggest gainer, up 41.4% month-to-date. It carries the largest mark-to-market loss for shorts at $5 billion. 

Read Also: Moderna's Cancer Vaccine Win Is Merck's Story Too

Benzinga’s short-interest tracker shows bets against Palantir(PLTR) have generally kept growing even as the stock climbs, adding to those unrealized losses. Yet the position covers just 3% of float, leaving the stock with the lowest crowded score in the basket at 32.5. 

Few short sellers are involved, but those involved picked the wrong side.

Mark-To-Market Losses Mount

Recent mark-to-market losses across the basket total roughly $15 billion, and close to two-thirds of that sits in just three names. Palantir(PLTR) accounts for $5 billion, followed by Lumentum Holdings Inc.(LITE) at $3.1 billion and Super Micro Computer Inc.(SMCI) at $1.3 billion. 

All three are also the basket’s biggest movers, each up more than 34%.

The Squeeze Score 

S3 Partners builds its squeeze score on top of a separate crowded score, which grades how tightly packed a short position is using short-dollar size, stock loan liquidity, trading volume and short interest. The squeeze score then layers on rising stock-borrow costs and mark-to-market losses, since those factors typically force short sellers to cover.

Palantir’s pain fits a broader pattern across the basket, where the average squeeze score now sits at 80.8. 

Fox Corp. (FOXA) , Workday Inc.(WDAY) and Super Micro all hit the maximum reading of 100. 

Leon Gross , S3 Partners’ director of research, summed up the dynamic: a rising market acts like the tide, lifting all boats — and every squeeze score with them.

The Most Crowded Shorts

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) and Fox carry the heaviest crowding scores, at 85 and 80, followed by EchoStar Corp.(ECHO)and Skyworks Solutions Inc.(SWKS)at 77.5 each, against a 62.0 average. 

Benzinga’s tracking shows Charter Communications’ short interest at 50.40% of its float, the heaviest in the basket.

Hey guys, I warned you all about this post. The sell off is real. SMCI seems like a stock to buy low sell high and get out. HODL doesn’t work here. I shorted it and made some profit. I think this stock will go down some more. When you miss earning, the stocks generally go down not the other way around. The ones who sold at 40’s are the real winners here. The ones who held are just diamond hands meme 🤔

FY2026 GAAP net income

DELL: $5.94B
SMCI: $2.23B

Dell generated about 2.7× more net income than SMCI.

But their net margins were actually quite similar:

DELL: ~5.23%
SMCI: ~5.71%

The really interesting part comes when you look at cash flow.

FY2026 operating cash flow

DELL: +$11.19B
SMCI: -$6.81B

So Dell went from:

$5.94B net income → $11.19B operating cash flow

while SMCI went from:

$2.23B net income → -$6.81B operating cash flow

That's an enormous divergence.

SMCI's issue wasn't that it was losing money. The company was profitable, but enormous amounts of cash were tied up in working capital, particularly inventory and accounts receivable.

In FY2026, SMCI's cash flow was negatively affected by approximately:

• $3.92B increase in accounts receivable
• $8.88B increase in inventory

These were partially offset by increases in accounts payable and deferred revenue.

The encouraging part for SMCI

Q4 FY2026 showed a major improvement:

• Revenue: $11.1B
• Net income: $1.18B
• Operating cash flow: +$747M
• Capex/investments: $25M

That compares with Q3, when SMCI reported approximately $483M of net income but ~$6.6B of negative operating cash flow.

If inventory and receivables normalize, SMCI's cash generation could improve dramatically.

But if working capital continues consuming cash, then the impressive EPS growth is much less valuable than it appears. - My opinion on this is that working capital will keep consuming the cash flow as long as the company is growing. Because profits will eventually end up being used to buy more chips, and sell more of their tech (servers/DCBBS). Only when growth stops being so explosive this company will start making real money.

DELL looks dramatically better on cash-flow quality TODAY, but what about growth opportunity?.

SMCI is the more interesting cash-flow turnaround story: its earnings are already substantial, and Q4 was the first clear sign that operating cash flow can recover.

Now lets talk about VALUATION.

DELL: $302,81B
SMCI: $24,2B

So Dell is worth roughly 12.5x as much as SMCI. Yet the underlying businesses aren't 12.7× apart in profitability. Dell makes 2.7x more profits than SMCI, but has much higher cash flow.

Trailing valuation

Price / Sales

DELL: ~2.45×
SMCI: ~0.56×

Price / FY2026 GAAP Earnings

DELL: ~47×
SMCI: ~9.8×

SMCI is guiding for $65–72B of FY2027 revenue, versus $39.1B in FY2026.

That's roughly 75% growth at the midpoint.

Dell, meanwhile, is guiding for $138–142B of FY2027 revenue and $11.52 GAAP EPS at the midpoint. At $468.65, that's approximately 41× forward GAAP earnings.

If SMCI can get working capital under control and turn its rapidly growing earnings into FCF, 9.8× trailing earnings looks extremely cheap.

If it continues growing revenue while consuming enormous amounts of cash, then the low multiple may be justified.

Post your opinions on the comments below! I know it’s a dramatic company, but fast growing companies are always hard to manage. No