New York, Feb 28, 2026, 11:16 EST — Market is shut for the day.
- CoreWeave shares slipped 18.51% to close at $79.56 on Friday.
- Investors weighed a capital spending plan for 2026 set at $30 billion to $35 billion, along with a more muted outlook for first-quarter revenue.
- Attention now turns to funding questions, margin pressure, and the upcoming March conference slots for management.
CoreWeave tumbled 18.51% to finish at $79.56 on Friday, with the AI cloud company taking a hit after its newest spending and outlook update.
This shift is grabbing attention as investors now dissect AI infrastructure stocks, weighing who can deliver growth without letting debt or spending overshadow the narrative. Demand drove the sector up; the cost of keeping up has knocked it down.
CoreWeave has turned into something of a stand-in for this trade. The company, billed as a “neo-cloud” operator, rents out premium compute power tailored for AI models. But unlike the cloud giants, its cash reserves are much thinner.
CoreWeave is projecting capital expenditures of $30 billion to $35 billion in 2026, Reuters said, a jump from $14.9 billion planned for 2025. CEO Michael Intrator told Reuters the company decided to “build faster”—accepting some short-term margin pressure in the process. For the first quarter, the company expects revenue between $1.9 billion and $2.0 billion. Reuters
CoreWeave’s fourth-quarter revenue more than doubled to $1.572 billion, up from $747 million the previous year, according to a filing. The company logged a net loss of $452 million. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $898 million — a figure that excludes interest, taxes and depreciation. Revenue backlog, representing contracted future sales, ended the year at $66.8 billion.
The backlog is hefty, though it doesn’t guarantee cash. Delivery has to happen on schedule—plus, expenses often show up fast, with new sites and hardware getting switched on ahead of customer payments.
Investors can’t ignore debt. The company logged $388 million in interest expense for the quarter, according to the filing. Losses deepened, despite a solid showing on non-GAAP margins.
CoreWeave purchases Nvidia chips, operates them, and then offers clients access to extensive GPU clusters—emphasizing dedicated capacity. This approach positions CoreWeave squarely against the hyperscalers when it comes to handling workloads, though its go-to-market strategy takes a different tack.
Still, everything depends on financing and getting things right operationally. CoreWeave’s cash and equivalents stood at $3.13 billion, Reuters noted, trailing far behind what Microsoft and Amazon have on hand. Investors, according to Russ Mould at AJ Bell, are asking tough questions about the “long-term economics” and how CoreWeave plans to bankroll the expansion. Reuters
Investors will be looking out for analyst updates and clues about the company’s ability to manage financing expenses as it scales up new capacity when trading picks up Monday. Margins are also in focus, with management already signaling a soft first quarter—that’s another area under scrutiny.
CoreWeave plans to speak at Morgan Stanley’s TMT conference on March 4, followed by Cantor’s Global Technology conference on March 10. Both sessions will be webcast, with investors eyeing those dates for more information.
