Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Key Points

• Unusually heavy call-option activity saw traders purchase 45,379 Cerebras call options, 14% above the average, signaling increased speculative bullish interest.
• Cerebras shares fell 8.9% to $177.65 on exceptionally high trading volume, while the company’s latest quarterly loss significantly exceeded analyst expectations despite 74.3% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $299.90, but substantial insider selling, a 19.4 million-share unlock, and competitive concerns involving NVIDIA and OpenAI weigh on the outlook.

Cerebras Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CBRS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 45,379 call options on the company. This is an increase of 14% compared to the average volume of 39,652 call options.

Cerebras Systems Trading Down 8.9%

NASDAQ:CBRS traded down $17.30 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $177.65. 13,826,933 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,754,798. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $202.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.20 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -2,220.62. Cerebras Systems has a fifty-two week low of $160.81 and a fifty-two week high of $386.34. The company has a current ratio of 5.82, a quick ratio of 5.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($2.98) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($2.77). The firm had revenue of $209.87 million during the quarter. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 74.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Cerebras Systems will post -0.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CBRS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cerebras Systems from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on Cerebras Systems in a report on Monday, June 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $325.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Cerebras Systems in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cerebras Systems from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Cerebras Systems in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $299.90.

Cerebras Systems News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cerebras Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New customer and partner activity: General Compute selected Cerebras to provide ultra-fast inference for agentic coding, while Gimlet Labs reportedly partnered with the company. These developments could support future demand for Cerebras’ AI systems. General Compute Selects Cerebras to Bring Ultra-Fast Inference to Agentic Coding Cerebras Systems Stock Rises on Gimlet Labs Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI backlog: A reported $25.4 billion backlog, expanding data-center capacity and improving margins remain bullish arguments for Cerebras as it competes with NVIDIA and AMD. Unusually high call-option activity also indicates speculative bullish interest. CBRS’ Backlog Rides on Strong AI Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and valuation debate: Analysts remain generally constructive, with a reported consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and price target near $300, but commentary questions whether benchmark advantages will translate into durable earnings and market share.
• Negative Sentiment: Share unlock increases supply: Approximately 19.4 million shares became eligible to enter the market, creating near-term dilution and selling pressure. Reports also questioned whether OpenAI’s latest GPT-6.1 model is running on Cerebras hardware. Cerebras Stock Falls as 19.4 Million-Share Unlock Hits
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive concerns: Reports that OpenAI may be shifting toward NVIDIA chips intensified fears that Cerebras could lose or fail to expand a major AI customer relationship. Cerebras Stock Plunges on OpenAI-NVIDIA Partnership Reports
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy insider selling: The COO sold $80.8 million of shares, the CFO sold $6.6 million, the CTO sold $25.1 million, and the chief accounting officer sold about $270,000. All were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, but the scale of selling may weigh on sentiment.

Insider Activity

In other Cerebras Systems news, Director Steven Vassallo sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.30, for a total value of $10,515,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 171,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,166,763.10. The trade was a 22.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Andrew Feldman sold 237,559 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.27, for a total transaction of $47,338,381.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 16,853 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,358,297.31. The trade was a 93.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,864,452 shares of company stock valued at $387,680,754 over the last quarter.

Institutional Trading of Cerebras Systems

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Silicon Valley Capital Partners acquired a new position in Cerebras Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of Cerebras Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $169,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cerebras Systems in the second quarter worth $197,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of Cerebras Systems in the second quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Tiger Pacific Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cerebras Systems during the second quarter worth $221,000.

Cerebras Systems Company Profile

Cerebras Systems is an artificial intelligence computing company that develops specialized hardware and software for training and deploying large AI models. The company's technology is designed to address the computational demands of generative AI, deep learning and other data-intensive workloads.

Its core products include the Wafer-Scale Engine, a purpose-built AI processor produced on a single silicon wafer, and the CS-3 AI supercomputer, which incorporates that processor into an integrated computing system.

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