This AI stock was left for dead. Now traders are betting big on a comeback
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 5, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
It’s hard to find an AI stock that’s not making new highs on a daily basis.
Perhaps that’s why options traders are piling into Super Micro Computer, the data-center server play that’s up 15% Wednesday after earnings, but still down 49% from last year’s high.
Options volumes skew bullish in the stock, with almost five times more calls than puts traded Wednesday and call premiums accounting for about 90% of options value traded.
Three of the biggest trades by dollar amount were call buyers, with one trader spending $1.4 million on 2,000 of the 35-strike calls expiring Jan. 15 next year. The most popular contract was also the 35-strike, expiring May 8, where 22,000 trades occurred. Super Micro hasn’t traded above that level since December.
Super Micro Computer, 1 year
Super Micro shares are now up almost 50% since March, when shares crashed 30% after reports that its cofounder, a manager and a contractor were charged with smuggling Nvidia chips to China by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The company itself was not named as a defendant.
Earnings Tuesday night are helping to turn the story around after the server maker issued strong guidance, although revenue for its fiscal third quarter came in below estimates.