Key Takeaways
- CoreWeave shares plummeted 18.5% following February 27 Q4 earnings release
- Company posted $1.57B in revenue, representing 110% growth, but Q1 outlook disappointed
- Q4 net loss expanded to $284M compared to $36M in the prior-year period
- Revenue backlog surged nearly 4x to $66.8B, boosted by approximately $5B Meta deal
- Management forecasts 2026 capex of $30B–$35B, more than doubling 2025’s $14.9B spend
Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV) experienced a sharp decline following its fourth-quarter earnings announcement, tumbling 18.5% on February 27. While the company delivered impressive revenue growth, mounting losses and disappointing forward guidance spooked investors.
CoreWeave, Inc. Class A Common Stock, CRWV
The company reported Q4 revenue of $1.57 billion, marking a 110% year-over-year increase and modestly exceeding the $1.53 billion analyst estimate. However, the net loss expanded dramatically — ballooning from $36 million to $284 million compared to the same quarter last year.
The company posted a loss per share of $0.89, significantly higher than the $0.50 consensus forecast. Additionally, adjusted operating margin contracted to approximately 6%, down from 16% in the year-ago period.
CoreWeave’s revenue backlog expanded substantially, climbing from $15.1 billion to $66.8 billion — nearly quadrupling in size. This growth includes a freshly inked agreement with Meta valued at roughly $5 billion.
CEO Michael Intrator explained the company’s strategic choice to accelerate infrastructure deployment. “We made the decision to go ahead and to build faster so that we can deliver more infrastructure,” he told Reuters.
This aggressive expansion strategy carries substantial financial implications. CoreWeave anticipates capital expenditures reaching $30 billion to $35 billion in 2026, more than doubling the $14.9 billion spent in 2025. The increased spending encompasses Nvidia chip acquisitions, data center development, and energy infrastructure.
CFO Nitin Agrawal emphasized that all projected capital spending corresponds to existing customer contracts. Intrator noted that Q1 would represent “the low point” for profitability margins before sequential improvement begins.
Wall Street Analysts Reduce Price Targets
Following the earnings release, most analysts maintained neutral stances. JPMorgan’s Mark Murphy reduced his price objective from $110 to $90, citing Q1 guidance that fell substantially below expectations and an investment cycle that proved “more pronounced than expected.”
Mizuho’s Gregg Moskowitz similarly maintained a Hold rating while lowering his target from $100 to $95. Stifel’s Ruben Roy adjusted his target downward to $110 from $120, highlighting the company’s accelerated investment in Nvidia’s Blackwell and Rubin chip architectures. Active data center power capacity expanded from 590MW to 850MW during the quarter.
Roy indicated he requires evidence of margin improvement before adopting a more optimistic view. While the aggressive capex strategy secures future revenue streams, it’s compressing near-term profitability.
D.A. Davidson’s Alexander Platt broke from the consensus, increasing his price target from $110 to $125 while maintaining his Buy rating. He contends that rapid capacity deployment represents the critical success factor in the AI infrastructure competition. Cantor Fitzgerald similarly maintained an Overweight rating with a $131 target.
Executive Stock Sale and Balance Sheet Details
On February 26 — one day before the share price collapse — CoreWeave’s General Counsel Kristen J. McVeety divested 2,601 shares of Class A common stock at prices ranging from $95.77 to $100.40, generating proceeds of $261,554. The transaction occurred under a predetermined trading plan established in May 2025. She retains ownership of 120,079 shares.
The company maintains approximately $14 billion in outstanding debt. Management indicated expectations for a declining weighted average cost of capital as operations scale.
CoreWeave ended 2025 with 850 megawatts of active power distributed across 43 data centers, with 3.1 gigawatts of contracted capacity scheduled to become operational primarily by 2027.
For the first quarter, the company guided for revenue between $1.9 billion and $2.0 billion. This projection fell meaningfully short of the $2.29 billion analyst consensus.
On TipRanks, CRWV carries a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 11 Buy and 8 Hold recommendations, with an average price target of $114.18.
