CoreWeave (CRWV), the AI data center specialist, saw its stock price tumble after releasing its latest earnings report. During trading on Friday, the company’s shares fell 11.4%. A day earlier, after the market closed, CoreWeave announced its first-quarter results, which were mixed: although sales exceeded expectations, the company posted a larger loss than analysts had forecast, and management’s guidance failed to satisfy investors.
According to the data, CoreWeave reported a loss of $1.40 per share in the first quarter on revenue of $2.08 billion. In comparison, analysts had generally expected a loss of $1.20 per share on revenue of $1.97 billion. Quarterly revenue grew 127% year-over-year. The company also disclosed that it had newly signed over $40 billion in service contracts during the quarter, pushing its period-end backlog of orders to nearly $100 billion.
Even more concerning to the market was the company’s outlook. CoreWeave expects second-quarter sales between $2.45 billion and $2.60 billion, with the midpoint of this range notably below the $2.70 billion target analysts had previously predicted. At the same time, the company provided full-year sales guidance of $12.0 billion to $13.0 billion, the midpoint of which also falls short of the market’s general expectation of $12.56 billion. Furthermore, its guidance for adjusted operating profit is just $30 million to $90 million, far below the market’s expected roughly $154 million.
The Jefferies analyst team noted that while CoreWeave’s first-quarter performance was strong, the market remains concerned about the sharp ramp-up in adjusted EBIT for the second half of fiscal 2026 (jumping from $81 billion in the first half to $919 billion in the second half). At the same time, an upward revision of approximately $500 million in the midpoint of 2026 capital expenditure guidance due to component pricing pressures has also drawn attention.
Although the short-term guidance disappointed the market, several Wall Street institutions have maintained positive ratings. Wells Fargo kept an “Overweight” rating and raised its price target from $135 to $155. Analysts stated that CoreWeave continues to execute steadily, currently boasting nearly $100 billion in backlog and over 1 gigawatt of active capacity. Jefferies maintained a “Buy” rating and a $160 price target, noting that the company’s contracted backlog has an average duration of five years, and that cost-pass-through effects support long-term profit margins.
The data shows that CoreWeave’s revenue backlog reached $99.4 billion, up from $66.8 billion in the previous quarter. The backlog structure is becoming more diversified, with backlog from the financial services sector nearing $10 billion and ten customers having commitments exceeding $1 billion. However, it must be pointed out that the nearly $100 billion in remaining performance obligations does not represent immediate revenue; converting this into reported revenue will take several years. In the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence, whether five-year contracts hide the risk of customers demanding renegotiations or order cancellations due to shifts in technological roadmaps remains a key focus of market concern.
