CoreWeave (CRWV) Stock Slides After Hours on December 10, 2025: Debt Jitters, Insider Selling, and What to Watch Before the December 11 Open

CoreWeave, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV) just wrapped a tense trading day on Wednesday, December 10, 2025. The AI cloud stock fell in regular trading and then dropped further after the bell as investors digested a big new convertible-debt deal, insider selling headlines, and rising concern over the company’s leverage.

By the close, CoreWeave finished at $88.16, down about 2.8% from Tuesday’s close at $90.66, on heavy volume of roughly 25.9 million shares. ^[1]
In the after-hours session, the stock slid again to about $84.80, a further 3.8% drop from the close, with extended-hours trading ranging between $84.53 and $88.49. ^[2]

Even after this week’s sell‑off, CRWV is still up roughly 120% in 2025 from its $40 IPO price in March, but now trades about 53% below its 52‑week high near $187. ^[3]
That’s exactly the kind of whiplash profile you get when you mix AI hype, aggressive capex, and junk‑rated balance sheets.

Let’s unpack what happened after the bell on December 10 and what actually matters before the December 11 U.S. market open.

1. How CoreWeave Stock Traded on December 10, 2025

Regular session (Dec 10, 2025)
Data from StockAnalysis, Investing.com and MarketBeat line up on the core tape: ^[4]

Open: $88.44
High: $89.79
Low: $85.35
Close: $88.16
Change vs. Dec 9 close ($90.66): −2.76% (often rounded to −2.8%)
Volume: ~25.9 million shares, slightly above average

MarketBeat notes that CoreWeave “traded down 2.8%” intraday and highlights that the stock’s low for the day was $85.35 before recovering into the close. ^[5]

After-hours session (Dec 10)

Public.com’s after‑hours tape shows: ^[6]

After-hours last trade: $84.80
Change vs. close: −$3.36 (−3.81%)
After-hours range: $84.53 – $88.49
Date in their history table: Dec 10, 2025 – market close $88.16, after‑hours $84.80

So the message from extended trading is clear: selling pressure accelerated after the bell, pushing CRWV roughly 6.5% below Tuesday’s close once you include after‑hours moves.

2. Why CRWV Is Under Pressure: Debt, Dilution, and Insider Selling

2.1 The $2.25 billion convertible note deal

CoreWeave’s stock has been trading in the shadow of a massive new convertible senior note offering:

Dec 8: The company announced plans to raise $2 billion in convertible notes due 2031 via a private offering. ^[7]
The announcement knocked the stock down over 4–5% on the day, as investors worried about dilution and leverage. ^[8]
Dec 9: Thanks to strong institutional demand, CoreWeave upsized the deal to $2.25 billion, with a 1.75% coupon and an initial conversion price of about $107.80 per share—roughly a 25% premium to the $86.24 closing price on December 8. ^[9]
The notes are scheduled to settle on December 11, 2025, i.e., tomorrow’s session. ^[10]

CoreWeave also layered on a capped call structure with an effective cap price around $215.60, or 150% of that $86.24 reference price. That’s designed to limit dilution to shareholders if the stock rallies strongly above the conversion price. ^[11]

But investors are fixated on the other side of the equation:

Barron’s and Bloomberg report that CoreWeave’s total debt load is now around $14 billion, as of the end of Q3. ^[12]
The company is aiming for 2025 capex of about $13 billion, funded in part by this new convertible issuance and earlier high‑coupon notes (9–9.25%). ^[13]

That combination—huge capex, rising leverage, and a still‑loss‑making business—is exactly what makes equity holders twitchy.

2.2 Credit market alarm bells

Reuters Breakingviews steps back and looks at CoreWeave as one of the poster children of “neo‑cloud” tenants driving the AI data‑center boom. It highlights several key stress points: ^[14]

CoreWeave signs long‑dated (15‑year+) leases with data center developers such as Applied Digital, while its own contracts with AI customers are often just 4–5 years.
That mismatch leaves CoreWeave on the hook if customer demand softens or contracts aren’t renewed.
Five‑year credit default swaps (CDS) on CoreWeave debt have widened from around 250–300 basis points earlier this year to roughly 720 bps in November, after the company trimmed its 2025 revenue guidance. ^[15]

In other words: credit markets are now pricing CoreWeave as meaningfully riskier, even before the new convertible notes settle.

2.3 Insider selling headlines on December 10

Layered on top of debt worries, insider selling became the headline story on December 10:

MarketBeat reports that CoreWeave “traded down 2.8%” on Wednesday after insider transactions were disclosed. ^[16]
Co‑founder Brannin McBee sold about 102,835 shares at an average price of $83.80, for proceeds of roughly $8.6 million, cutting his stake by over a third. ^[17]
CEO Michael Intrator executed multiple sales earlier in December totalling 82,455 shares around $76.88 per share, worth about $6.3 million, though he still holds a very large position (over 5.9 million shares). ^[18]

Insider selling doesn’t automatically equal doom—founders are allowed to diversify, eat food, that sort of thing. But large sales against a backdrop of rising leverage and volatility naturally amplify market anxiety.

Put simply: new debt + widening CDS + prominent insider sales is not the cocktail you’d order if you like calm pre‑open vibes.

3. Fundamentals: Hypergrowth, Thin Margins, and a Giant AI Backlog

Despite all the drama in the tape, CoreWeave’s fundamentals are—on the surface—still in “AI rocket ship” territory.

3.1 Q3 2025 results: huge growth, real losses

From the company’s own Q3 2025 earnings release: ^[19]

Revenue: $1.365 billion, up about 134% year‑over‑year (from $583.9 million).
GAAP operating income: $51.9 million (down from $117.1 million a year ago).
Net loss: $110.1 million, a big improvement from a $359.8 million loss in Q3 2024.
GAAP EPS: −$0.22 vs. −$1.82 a year earlier.
Adjusted EBITDA: $838 million, with a hefty 61% margin.
Revenue backlog / remaining performance obligations:$55.6 billion as of September 30, 2025.

Investors.com and other outlets emphasize the same storyline: explosive top‑line growth and a huge backlog, but heavy interest expense and a business model that currently requires very aggressive capital spending. ^[20]

3.2 Guidance cut and data‑center delays

The dark cloud sitting over those strong results is guidance:

After Q3, CoreWeave cut its 2025 revenue outlook to $5.05–$5.15 billion, down from a prior range of $5.15–$5.35 billion, citing delays at a third‑party data‑center provider rather than weak demand. ^[21]
Those delays mean revenue slips to the right, while long‑term lease and debt obligations don’t.

Zacks’ December 10 piece on CoreWeave’s “Mission Control” platform spells this out: demand is strong and the platform is adding sophisticated tools like GPU straggler detection, telemetry streaming into SIEM systems, and a conversational ops agent, but capacity constraints and data‑center delays remain the key near‑term drag. ^[22]

So the core tension is:

Backlog and demand look fantastic. Cash flows and balance sheet look fragile.

4. What Analysts and Forecast Models Are Saying Right Now

4.1 Wall Street price targets and ratings

MarketBeat’s December 10 insider‑selling piece also gives a snapshot of Street sentiment: ^[23]

Consensus rating: “Hold”.
Breakdown: 1 Strong Buy, 17 Buy, 12 Hold, 3 Sell ratings.
Average price target: $129.47, implying roughly 47% upside from the $88.16 close.

A few details matter here:

Several major banks have cut price targets since the Q3 guidance trim, pulling high‑end targets down from the $140–$150 zone into the low‑100s and teens. ^[24]
Freedom Capital Markets, a smaller firm, initiated coverage on December 4 with a Buy rating and a $100 target, arguing that the recent plunge is “fear‑driven rather than fundamentally justified” and pointing to CoreWeave’s backlog and demand profile. ^[25]

Put differently: the median analyst thinks the stock is undervalued, but not “table‑pounding cheap,” and they’re nervous about leverage.

4.2 Zacks and enterprise‑AI positioning

Zacks’ December 10 analysis of CoreWeave’s Mission Control update frames CRWV as:

A leading AI cloud provider with deep traction among enterprise customers (examples include CrowdStrike and Rakuten in their write‑up).
A company still supply‑constrained, with GPU capacity and data‑center availability as gating factors.
Trading at a rich price‑to‑book of ~11.4x vs. about 6x for the broader internet software services group.
Ranked Zacks #3 (Hold), with earnings estimates revised upward over the last 60 days but valuation and supply constraints tempering enthusiasm. ^[26]

In other words: Zacks likes the business, but not enough to scream “back up the truck” at today’s leverage and volatility.

4.3 Macro & credit commentary

Two high‑level pieces frame CoreWeave as part of a bigger AI credit story:

Reuters Breakingviews warns that “neo‑cloud” tenants like CoreWeave could be a weak link in the AI data‑center boom because developers rely on cheap financing and long‑dated leases while tenants like CRWV carry junk‑level credit ratings and highly uncertain long‑term cash flows. ^[27]
Barron’s notes that investors eagerly bought CoreWeave’s new convertible bonds, but the stock is dropping again as equity holders fret about cumulative debt, rising CDS spreads and whether 2026+ cash flows will keep up with a capex plan that may exceed $30 billion. ^[28]

The vibe: bond investors are still willing to play, but equity investors are increasingly nervous about how tight this rope is.

4.4 Algorithmic price forecasts

On the more speculative side, the retail‑oriented site LongForecast (which uses mechanical, non‑fundamental models) updated its CoreWeave price forecast on December 10. ^[29]

Its model projects:

A gradual drift back into the low‑to‑mid‑$100s during 2026,
Followed by a wide, choppy range mostly between $130 and $180 through 2027–2029.

These kinds of model‑driven forecasts are not based on cash flows, competitive analysis, or credit risk—they’re essentially fancy curve‑fitting. They’re useful as sentiment indicators, but not as a substitute for real valuation work.

5. Key Things to Watch Before the Market Opens on December 11, 2025

Even though true pre‑market trading for December 11 hasn’t started yet (U.S. pre‑market begins at 4:00 a.m. ET), we already know what levers are going to matter when the bell rings.

5.1 Settlement and trading around the convertibles

The $2.25 billion convertible senior notes are scheduled to settle on December 11. ^[30]

Near-term implications:

Hedging flows: Note buyers and the banks involved often short the underlying stock as a hedge. That can create additional selling pressure, particularly if the stock rallies intraday.
Convertible arb funds: They typically care more about credit quality and volatility than about near‑term fundamentals, which can amplify swings as they adjust exposure.
Capped call dynamics: The capped call structure reduces eventual dilution above the conversion price, but in the short term it doesn’t stop hedging pressure.

For tomorrow morning, the key question is whether the market has already priced in most of that hedging flow after the after‑hours slide to $84.80, or whether more pressure is waiting in the wings.

5.2 How markets digest the after-hours move

The after‑hours print of $84.80 is now the reference point for early traders. ^[31]

Watch for:

Gap behavior: Does CRWV open sharply below the $88.16 close, closer to $84–$85, or do buyers step in and narrow the gap?
Support zone: Monday’s debt‑offering news briefly pushed shares as low as the low‑$80s in pre‑market/early trading (Investors.com and Bloomberg cite lows around $82–$83). ^[32]
That zone now matters as a short‑term support area.
Volume: Another day of 25–30 million shares traded would signal institutional repositioning, not just retail noise.

If the stock slices cleanly through the low‑$80s on heavy volume, the market is effectively saying: “We don’t yet know where this will settle.”

5.3 Read‑through from the AI and data‑center complex

CoreWeave doesn’t live in a vacuum. Investors will be watching:

Peers and partners like Nvidia (NVDA), Nebius (NBIS), and AI‑heavy data‑center developers such as Applied Digital (APLD) for sympathy moves. ^[33]
Oracle and other AI‑heavy capex names, which are also facing questions about whether AI data‑center spending is racing ahead of near‑term returns. ^[34]
Broader risk‑on / risk‑off sentiment, especially around rate expectations, since higher yields directly raise financing costs for leveraged AI infrastructure plays. ^[35]

If the whole “AI infrastructure plus leverage” basket is red again, it’ll be harder for CRWV to stage a stand‑alone rebound.

5.4 Any new commentary or rating changes

December 10 has already been dense with commentary:

Zacks highlighted Mission Control upgrades and reiterated a Hold stance. ^[36]
The Motley Fool pushed out a video discussing CoreWeave’s debt offering and AI positioning. ^[37]
Zacks Investment Ideas used CoreWeave as a case study in “news failure”—noting that the initial convertible note announcement was followed by a surprisingly resilient (and briefly rising) stock price earlier this week. ^[38]
Reuters Breakingviews and Barron’s gave the credit‑risk and debt‑load angle front‑page treatment. ^[39]

Any fresh downgrades, target cuts, or credit‑rating comments published overnight could easily show up in pre‑market volatility.

6. How to Think About CoreWeave Going Into December 11

Let’s zoom out one level and separate the story from the stock.

6.1 The bull case in one breath

Revenue growth north of 130% year‑over‑year,
A $55.6 billion backlog anchored by top‑tier customers (Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI and others), ^[40]
A central role in the GPU cloud market at a time when AI demand is still exploding, and
A share price that has fallen more than 50% from its highs while the top line keeps compounding. ^[41]

If everything goes roughly right—data centers come online, customers stick around, rates don’t spike, and credit markets stay open—CoreWeave could grow into its capital structure and justify those Street targets north of $120.

6.2 The bear case in one breath

A heavily leveraged balance sheet now supporting over $14 billion in debt, ^[42]
A business model dependent on long‑term leases and massive capex, while customer contracts are much shorter, ^[43]
CDS spreads that have already blown out to ~720 bps, signaling rising default worries even before the new notes settle, ^[44]
A share price still well above IPO and valued richly on book value and traditional earnings metrics, even after a huge drawdown from the June peak. ^[45]

In that scenario, if anything in the AI upgrade cycle or credit markets goes sideways, equity could remain volatile—or get punished further—long before the backlog translates into comfortable free cash flow.

7. Bottom Line: December 10’s After-Hours Move Sets the Stage for a Volatile December 11

As of the close and immediate after‑hours session on December 10, 2025:

CRWV closed at $88.16 (−2.8% on the day). ^[46]
After hours, it traded down to $84.80 (−3.8% vs. the close). ^[47]
Investors are processing three competing narratives:
1. High‑growth AI infrastructure leader with a huge backlog and cutting‑edge platform improvements. ^[48]
2. Heavily levered “neo‑cloud” tenant that could get squeezed if data‑center economics or credit conditions worsen. ^[49]
3. A stock caught between bullish price targets (~$100–$130) and bearish credit and dilution fears, with insiders cashing out a noticeable chunk of shares. ^[50]

Going into the December 11 open, the key things to watch are:

How the market digests the convertible note settlement,
Whether CRWV can hold the low‑$80s support zone, and
How the broader AI‑data‑center trade reacts to rising scrutiny around leverage and returns.