This AI stock was left for dead. Now traders are betting big on a comeback

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It's hard to find an AI stock that's not making new highs on a daily basis. Perhaps that's why options traders are piling into Super Micro Computer, the data-center server play that's up 15% Wednesday after earnings, but still down 49% from last year's high. Options volumes skew bullish in the stock, with almost five times more calls than puts traded Wednesday and call premiums accounting for about 90% of options value traded. Three of the biggest trades by dollar amount were call buyers, with one trader spending $1.4 million on 2,000 of the 35-strike calls expiring Jan. 15 next year. The most popular contract was also the 35-strike, expiring May 8, where 22,000 trades occurred. Super Micro hasn't traded above that level since December. Super Micro shares are now up almost 50% since March, when shares crashed 30% after reports that its cofounder, a manager and a contractor were charged with smuggling Nvidia chips to China by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The company itself was not named as a defendant. Earnings Tuesday night are helping to turn the story around after the server maker issued strong guidance, although revenue for its fiscal third quarter came in below estimates.