Cerebras CEO says margin guidance was misunderstood after shares slide nearly 20%

According to CNBC, Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman said investors misunderstood the AI chipmaker’s margin guidance after the stock fell nearly 20% following the company’s first earnings report since going public. Feldman said the company’s core gross margin, excluding customer warrants and data center pass-through revenue, was 47% in the first quarter and is expected to be 38% to 41% for the full year, and he added that management had flagged it would need to rent back some equipment from one of its largest clients. He also pointed to a staggered lock-up schedule that allows about 28 million Class A shares held by directors, officers and nonemployee shareholders to be traded on the second trading day after Tuesday’s earnings announcement, and said the structure was intended to smooth the typical post-IPO release timeline.