Could Investing $10,000 in Super Micro Computer Make You a Millionaire?

Turning $10,000 into $1 million is no small feat. That requires a return of 100 times on your investment, and few companies can deliver that. For this to work properly, you need a stock that's relatively inexpensive, is in the middle of a general trend, and doesn't have too high a market cap to begin with.

Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI), commonly called Supermicro, checks all of those boxes. It is a participant in the artificial intelligence (AI) race, is valued at a dirt cheap price, and tips the scales at a $19.2 billion valuation. So, does Supermicro have the ability to turn $10,000 into $1 million? Let's find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

Supermicro's products are a key part of the AI computing power build-out

If Supermicro's stock would rise 100-fold, it would be worth $1.9 trillion. That's not the world's largest company, but it would place it around the top five. That's huge growth, but a rise like that wouldn't yield a value that's unrealistic.

Supermicro makes server racks in which companies place high-performance computing hardware, such as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) GPUs. Properly configuring and cooling these devices is crucial to their use, which is where Supermicro comes in.

It has technologies like direct liquid cooling (DLC) that cool devices more efficiently and allow more computing hardware to be packed into a tighter space because airflow isn't required to cool these units. Supermicro's DLC can deliver up to 40% energy savings and 80% space savings, which reduces both operating and construction costs.

This is a crucial business that will benefit from the AI boom, which is why management believes it's on a path to a $50 billion revenue run rate. Considering that it generated $20 billion in revenue during the past 12 months, that's strong growth.

However, that's not nearly enough to turn Supermicro into a company that could turn $10,000 into $1 million.

Supermicro is just one part of the AI build-out investment trend. Most people are investing in Nvidia since it generates sky-high margins on its products.

Supermicro is still a worthy consideration, but its margins are much slimmer, and there is a lot more competition in its industry. Furthermore, if it became a nearly $2 trillion company, Nvidia would likely rise 100-fold from its current level, too, because most of Supermicro's racks house Nvidia GPUs. This just isn't realistic considering Nvidia's $2.8 trillion market cap.

But just because a company doesn't have 100-bagger potential doesn't mean it can't be a solid investment. So, is Supermicro worth buying here now?

The stock may be cheap for a reason

As mentioned above, Supermicro's stock is dirt cheap. It tips the scales at just 13.2 times forward earnings.

SMCI PE Ratio data by YCharts; PE = price to earnings.

This stock is cheap because the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) trades for about 21 times forward earnings. However, there's a reason for that.

There isn't much to separate one competitor from another in Supermicro's industry, so the stock doesn't have a premium attached to it. Another reason is that allegations of accounting irregularities rocked the stock last year, although the company has since been cleared of any wrongdoing. Those allegations left a bad taste in investors' mouths, so many are avoiding the stock as a result.

And the business' execution isn't always top tier. For its fiscal third quarter (ended March 31), management preannounced results because it now expects sales to come in at about $4.5 billion, down from its prior $5 billion to $6 billion projected range. The company blamed some delayed customer decisions from the third quarter to the fourth, but this still isn't a great sign.

As a result, I don't think investors need to invest in Supermicro. I would rather own a stock like Nvidia that is a much better play on the same trend that Supermicro is riding.

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Keithen Drury has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.