Shares of Raspberry Pi Holdings rocketed 22.9% to $8.85 on Tuesday as investors piled in two days before the company's half-year earnings release, betting that a pre-announced beat will outweigh a darkening margin picture. The Cambridge-based maker of low-cost computers will report results for the six months ended June 30, 2026, on Thursday, September 24.
CEO Eben Upton and CFO Richard Boult will lead two virtual presentations that day — their last together, since incoming CFO Tim Powell takes over effective October 16.
Already-Disclosed Numbers Remove Some Suspense — But Not All
Raspberry Pi has previewed strong first-half trading, with unit volumes above 4 million and adjusted EBITDA of at least $38 million. That EBITDA floor alone would roughly match the $46.4 million the company earned across all of fiscal 2025, suggesting the first half is tracking well ahead of the prior year's pace. Analysts have lifted their full-year 2026 revenue forecast to $607.6 million with earnings per share of roughly $0.139 — numbers that imply nearly 88% revenue growth over 2025's $323.2 million.
DRAM Costs Are the Cloud Over the Rally
Shares remain down roughly 49% from June's high as investors weigh whether the DRAM memory-cost squeeze flagged by management is priced in or still worsening.
Rising memory costs are expected to pressure margins in 2026 even as volume surges, meaning revenue growth may outpace profit growth — a dynamic that already spooked investors earlier this summer.
The Chip Pivot Changes What This Company Is
In 2025, Raspberry Pi shipped 8.4 million microcontroller chips — more than its 7.6 million boards — the first time silicon outsold single-board computers in the company's history.
Two years after its London IPO, the company is turning from a hobbyist board-maker into a chip vendor with an industrial customer base. Thursday's results should reveal whether that shift is accelerating, which matters because chip sales carry higher gross margins when memory costs cooperate.
A Leadership Transition Adds Uncertainty
CFO Richard Boult plans to step down in the second half of 2026 after seven years. A CFO exit during a margin squeeze and a business-model pivot is never ideal timing. Investors will listen Thursday for reassurance that the handoff won't slow strategic execution.
At roughly 67× trailing earnings, the stock is priced for transformation, not incremental progress. Thursday's numbers — and management's tone on DRAM — will determine whether this week's rally has staying power.