Why Super Micro Computer Stock Sank Today

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) stock fell in Wednesday's trading after the company said that it would not be able to file its quarterly 10-Q report on time. The company's share price closed out the daily session down 6.3%.

Supermicro submitted a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today stating that it would not be able to meet the deadline for its 10-Q report without unreasonable effort or expense. Missing the filing deadline likely stems from Ernst & Young (EY) resigning as the company's financial auditor in October. The stock is now down 57.5% over the last month, and it could face continued sell-offs unless Supermicro can get its financial filings back on schedule and allay investor concerns.

More bad news for Supermicro investors

EY stepped down as Supermicro's financial auditor in October, stating that it had resigned due to "information that has recently come to our attention which has led us to no longer be able to rely on management's and the Audit Committee's representations and to be unwilling to be associated with the financial statements prepared by management." The public accounting firm's decision to step back from the role came on the heels of a bearish report published by short seller Hindenburg Research in August, which alleged repeated accounting violations at the company.

Given that Supermicro had not announced that it's entered into an agreement with a new auditor, it's not particularly surprising that the company will miss its 10-Q filing deadline. Being on track to miss the quarterly filing deadline is certainly bearish news, but it's also not the most pressing filing issue right now.

In order to remain in compliance with the SEC and continue to trade on major exchanges, companies must submit regular financial reports. Supermicro still has not filed its annual 10-K report for its last fiscal year, a period that ended June 30. As a result of the delayed 10-K filing, Supermicro is in danger of being delisted from the Nasdaq exchange.

Is the worst over for Supermicro stock?

On Nov. 5, Supermicro published unaudited results for the first quarter of its current fiscal year -- a period that ended Sept. 30. The company said that it expected sales to come in between $5.9 billion and $6 billion, coming in below its previous guidance for revenue to be between $6 billion and $7 billion.

Making matters worse, investors may have difficulty trusting the company's preliminary numbers because they have not been audited. Despite surging earlier in the year thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) trends, Supermicro stock is now down roughly 29% across 2024's trading -- and the bottom may not be in yet.

In order to remain in compliance with the SEC and continue to trade on major exchanges, companies must submit regular financial reports. If Supermicro does wind up being delisted from the Nasdaq, the stock would continue to trade through over-the-counter exchanges -- but such an event would almost certainly create new bearish pressures.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.