Could Supermicro's Latest Crisis Create a Buying Opportunity in 2026? Here's What the Evidence Says

Key Points
The U.S. Justice Department has charged three Super Micro Computer employees with selling restricted hardware to China in violation of export laws.
Nonetheless, Super Micro Computer's business is growing by leaps and bounds amid the AI boom.
Super Micro Computer's trail of controversy creates serious risks to consider before buying the stock.
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Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) has surged more than 460% over the past five years. However, it hasn't come without stomach-churning volatility along the way. That's at least partly due to the company's tendency to find itself embroiled in controversy.
Most recently, the U.S. Justice Department indicted three company employees, including one of the company's co-founders, on charges of conspiring to smuggle $2.5 billion in Nvidia GPU artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, in violation of the Export Control Reform Act.
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Sometimes, a short-term crisis can become a buying opportunity for long-term investors. Is this one of those moments? Here is what the evidence could be trying to tell you.
Where there's smoke, could there be fire?
According to a Fortune report, the Justice Department alleges that the three individuals operated a scheme in which they sold banned hardware to an unnamed company in Southeast Asia, which then rerouted the hardware to the true buyers in China.
It's important to note that the Justice Department hasn't brought any charges or allegations against Super Micro Computer itself, only the three employees. Investors should also know that Super Micro Computer is cooperating with investigators. The co-founder, Yih-Shyan Liaw, has resigned from the company's board and remains employed, though he is currently on administrative leave.
There may not be a stock with this valuation and such high growth
Despite the controversy, Super Micro Computer is churning out breathtaking growth as a top AI stock. The company's trailing-12-month sales of $28 billion are up by more than 326% over the past three years.
Super Micro Computer designs and builds high-performance server systems for data centers, which have been in high demand over the past several years as AI companies can't build up data center capacity fast enough. As AI investments continue, Wall Street analysts estimate that Super Micro Computer's revenue will explode to $41.5 billion this fiscal year, and $49.1 billion next year.
Given that Super Micro Computer stock sits 80% off its all-time high in early 2024, the company trades at just 0.5 times its trailing-12-month sales, its lowest valuation in recent history. You may not find a cheaper stock with that kind of growth.
It all comes down to this
Of course, the question becomes: Why is Super Micro Computer stock so cheap? It almost seems too good to be true. Well, it turns out there might be reasons for that.
For starters, Super Micro Computer pleaded guilty in federal court back in 2006 to operating a similar export scheme to send hardware to Iran.
There have also been multiple controversies over the years related to the company's financial practices. Ernst & Young resigned as Super Micro Computer's auditor in late 2024 due to integrity concerns. Around the same time, the Justice Department opened a probe into allegations of accounting violations by a former employee.
Super Micro Computer conducted an internal review that found no misconduct, but that's sort of like grading your own homework. Again, there are no smoking guns here. Still, it's quite a bit of smoke for investors to dismiss all of this circumstantial evidence. Sometimes, where there is smoke, there is, in fact, fire.
It's a slippery slope when a company tangles with controversy related to integrity and doing things the right way. How can an investor or shareholder expect a company to operate in their best interests if they're consistently pushing the boundaries of the rules at best, or, at worst, doing something immoral that they simply haven't been caught or punished for yet?
Yes, the stock could take off if the Justice Department clears Super Micro Computer and this all blows over. The company's growth is stellar; I won't deny that. But investing is ultimately a partnership between a business and its shareholders, and what's a partnership without trust?
Should you buy stock in Super Micro Computer right now?
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Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.