New York, June 16, 2026, 11:02 EDT
- CoreWeave shares traded at $116.95, rising $10.24 on the session. Investors kept buying on bets of a Nasdaq-100 inclusion.
- New research is divided on CoreWeave. Analysts disagree over whether its close to $100 billion backlog is enough to balance out its growing liabilities.
- CoreWeave priced a new debt package with $1.25 billion in 9.625% senior notes and €2 billion in 8.500% senior notes, both maturing in 2032.
CoreWeave shares rallied again Tuesday as traders weighed a possible index move and new concerns about leverage at the AI infrastructure firm. The stock last traded at $116.95, up $10.24, hitting an intraday high of $118.03 with a market cap of about $61.6 billion. The jump followed Monday’s market debate over whether investors are missing the value of CoreWeave’s customer deals or underestimating how much it will cost to fund them.
Nasdaq puts CoreWeave in the Nasdaq-100, joining Astera Labs, Nebius, Rocket Lab and Teradyne before the open on June 22. The Nasdaq-100 is tracked by more than 200 products and manages over $800 billion worldwide, according to Nasdaq. Nasdaq, Inc. “This move reflects both our growth and the emergence of AI as one of the defining technologies of our time,” CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said. CoreWeave Barchart said index additions can drive buying from ETFs and funds tracking the index. Barchart.com
Bulls are pointing to backlog quality over just headline backlog size. On June 15, Trefis said the market could be overlooking that CoreWeave has 10 customers lined up to spend $1 billion each, with total backlog close to $100 billion. Trefis CoreWeave’s May update showed $99.4 billion in revenue backlog at March 31. Revenue for the first quarter was $2.08 billion, up from $982 million a year ago. The company listed new or expanded deals with Meta, Anthropic, Jane Street, Cohere, Mistral, and several others.
Bears see problems too. Louis Gerard, a Seeking Alpha contributor, kept his Strong Sell call on June 15, citing rising CoreWeave capital costs. He noted new debt at 9.625%, a lease for a big Chicago data center, and margin pressure. Seeking Alpha CoreWeave said on June 11 it priced $1.25 billion in 9.625% senior notes and €2 billion in 8.500% notes due 2032. The company said the money would go to general corporate purposes, including paying down old debt.
CoreWeave’s balance sheet is the reason for the heated debate. As of March 31, the company’s total liabilities stood at $50.81 billion. That included $7.55 billion in current debt, $17.31 billion in non-current debt, and $9.56 billion in non-current operating lease liabilities. Cash used on property and equipment purchases in the first quarter was $7.70 billion. CoreWeave Motley Fool, writing on Yahoo Finance, chose a different angle. The article pointed to Wall Street forecasts for 147% revenue growth in 2026 and 97% in 2027. But it also flagged that CoreWeave needs fresh capital or debt to expand its data centers and is still a long way from lasting profitability.
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