AI Server Stocks Slide as Two-Day Run Unwinds: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Sinks 4%, Dell Pulls Back, Super Micro Sits Out the Selloff
HPE and Dell are giving back gains Thursday with no new catalyst in sight, while Super Micro is bucking the retreat entirely. The divergence raises a question about whether this is profit taking or something more worth watching.
Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE | HPE Price Prediction) are down 4% to $56.37 in Thursday morning trading, unwinding a two-day run in AI server names with no company disclosure attached to the move. Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock is still up 134% year to date (YTD), which is the setup profit taking tends to work on.
Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) is also pulling back, with Dell Technologies stock down 3% to $519.50 and up 312% YTD. Meanwhile, Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) is sitting out the retreat, with Super Micro shares only down 0.9% to $38.55.
The gap to the broader market is what makes the session worth marking. The iShares U.S. Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:IYW) is down 0.7%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 0.82%.
Profit Taking Follows Blowout AI Quarters
The shape of the session points at positioning dynamics. Both HPE and Dell climbed in the two prior sessions after posting blowout AI infrastructure quarters, and both carry very large gains for the year.
HPE reported fiscal Q3 2026 results on September 2 with non-GAAP EPS of $1.11 versus a $0.9261 consensus and revenue of $12.21 billion, up 32.7% year over year (YoY). Networking revenue jumped 74.9% YoY to $2.89 billion, and CEO Antonio Neri called AI “a multi-year growth driver for HPE.”
Hewlett Packard Enterprise also raised its FY2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $3.75 to $3.85 and its free cash flow target to at least $3.75 billion, with a fiscal 2027 free cash flow floor of at least $5 billion.
Dell posted Q2 FY2027 results on September 1 with adjusted EPS of $7.04 against a $4.8994 consensus and revenue of $46.97 billion, up 57.8% YoY. The company booked a record $60.9 billion in AI-optimized server orders, exited with a $95 billion AI backlog, and raised full-year FY2027 revenue guidance to $192 billion and non-GAAP EPS guidance to $25.50.
Super Micro Sits Apart from the Move
Super Micro’s near-flat session reflects a separate storyline. The stock had declined heading into its fiscal Q4 2026 report on August 11, so today’s relative strength reads as a rebound trajectory rather than an unwind of a hot streak.
Super Micro reported non-GAAP EPS of $1.70 versus a $0.9575 consensus and revenue of $11.12 billion, up 93.2% YoY. GAAP gross margin expanded to 17.5% from 9.5% a year earlier.
Management guided Q1 FY2027 revenue to $14.5 billion to $15.5 billion and full-year FY2027 revenue to $65 billion to $72 billion, with CEO Charles Liang citing more than $60 billion in new orders during fiscal 2026 and a record backlog entering fiscal 2027.
The company’s full fiscal 2026 revenue landed at $39.06 billion, up 77.8% YoY, with full-year non-GAAP EPS of $3.63. Super Micro stock trades at a P/E ratio of 12.36x, a compression relative to the AI infrastructure cohort that helps explain why buyers keep showing up on dips.
What to Watch
Both HPE and Dell described demand as exceeding available supply on their most recent calls, with HPE calling out DDR5 and DDR4 memory, NAND flash and clean-room capacity, and Dell repeating that it’s supply constrained. The suppliers filling that gap, from power to cooling to networking, are the seven names we profiled in a free AI infrastructure report you can grab here. That backdrop underscores why the profit taking usually stops short of undoing a strong run.
Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani raised his Dell stock price target to $650 and kept a Buy rating on DELL after Wednesday’s close, arguing that early enterprise AI adoption, neocloud buildout and Dell’s logistics footprint let it take share while improving profitability. That research is yesterday’s information, and Dell shares are lower this morning in spite of it.
The gap between the two server names and the technology sector fund is worth monitoring for investors sizing their exposure. Traders can look for signs that the profit taking exhausts before the close, or that the broader market rolls over to join the pullback.
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David Moadel is financial writer specializing in stocks, ETFs, options, precious metals, and Bitcoin. David has written well over 1,000 articles for leading online publications, helping investors understand markets, income strategies, and risk.His work has appeared in The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, U.S. News & World Report, TipRanks, ValueWalk, Benzinga, Market Realist, TalkMarkets, Finmasters, 24/7 Wall St., and others.With a master’s degree in education, David has taught at the elementary, high school, and college levels. That teaching background shapes his writing style: clear, educational, and practical. David has also built a loyal social-media audience by providing trustworthy financial content on YouTube, X/Twitter, and StockTwits.
