Super Micro's 44% plunge this week wipes out stock's gains for the year
Super Micro investors have been fleeing for the exits this week after the company lost its second auditor in less than two years.
Super Micro investors continued to rush the exits on Friday, pushing the stock down another 10% and bringing this week's sell-off to 44%, after the data center company lost its second auditor in less than two years.
The company's shares fell as low as $26.01, wiping out all of the gains for 2024. The stock had peaked at $118.81 in March, at which point it was up more than fourfold for the year. Earlier that month, S&P Dow Jones added the stock to the S&P 500, and Wall Street was rallying around the company's growth, driven by sales of servers packed with Nvidia's artificial intelligence processors.
Super Micro's spectacular collapse since March has wiped out roughly $55 billion in market cap and left the company at risk of being delisted from the Nasdaq. On Wednesday, as the stock was in the midst of its second-worst day ever, Super Micro said it will provide a "business update" regarding its latest quarter on Tuesday, which is Election Day in the U.S.
The company's recent challenges date back to August, when Super Micro said it would not file its annual report on time with the SEC. Noted short seller Hindenburg Research then disclosed a short position in the company and wrote in a report that it identified "fresh evidence of accounting manipulation." The Wall Street Journal later reported that the Department of Justice was in the early stages of a probe into the company.