Key Highlights

  • Wolfspeed shares are down 9.11% pre-market at $26.45, adding to a decline from Wednesday's close.
  • Fiscal fourth-quarter Revenue fell 24% year-over-year to $149.6 million, well below the roughly $224 million consensus.
  • Adjusted loss per share narrowed to $2.26, better than the $2.45 expected, though gross margins remained deeply negative.
  • AI Data Center revenue more than doubled year-over-year, and the company announced a new Toyota EV charging Partnership as bright spots amid weak overall demand.

Wolfspeed Falls on Weak Fiscal Fourth-Quarter Results

Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) shares are down 9.11% in pre-market trading on August 20, after the chipmaker reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that badly missed revenue expectations, with sales falling 24% year-over-year to $149.6 million versus roughly $224 million consensus, even as its adjusted loss of $2.26 per share narrowed and came in better than feared.

Wolfspeed is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and is a leading innovator in wide bandgap semiconductor technology, specializing in silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and devices for power and radio frequency applications. The company operates a vertically integrated Business model, encompassing the growth of raw silicon carbide crystals, fabrication of epitaxial wafers, and production of finished power devices such as Schottky diodes, MOSFETs, and power modules.

AI Data Center Growth Offsets Weak EV Demand

Persistent weak EV Demand and customer inventory digestion continue to pressure the Top Line and gross margins, which remained deeply negative, though management highlighted bright spots including AI data center revenue more than doubling year-over-year and a new Toyota (NYSE:TM) EV charging partnership. The company's products serve high-growth end markets including electric vehicles and fast charging, 5G communications, renewable energy and storage, industrial automation, AI data centers, and aerospace and defense, with key automotive partnerships including General Motors (NYSE:GM), Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar Land Rover.

The stock extended losses into after-hours trading Wednesday as investors weighed the disappointing sales trajectory and cautious first-quarter guidance of $140 million to $160 million against a backdrop of broader semiconductor sector Volatility tied to rising Treasury yields, alongside lingering dilution concerns from a prior share raise.

What This Means for Investors

Founded in 1987, formerly Cree, and led by CEO Robert A. Feurle, Wolfspeed positions itself as the global leader in silicon carbide technology enabling the transition to more energy-efficient power electronics. The divergence between weak core EV-driven revenue and doubling AI data center revenue suggests the company's growth story is shifting toward a different end market than the one that originally drove its valuation, making the pace of that data center ramp, not the current quarter's EV-related shortfall, the more important signal for whether the stock's growth thesis remains intact.