CoreWeave Shares Fall on High Spending Outlook

CoreWeave, an AI-focused cloud infrastructure provider, reported first-quarter revenue of $981.6 million, up 420% year-over-year and surpassing Wall Street estimates, driven by soaring AI demand and major new deals, including an $11.9 billion partnership with OpenAI and a $4 billion expansion with a large AI enterprise. Despite the revenue beat, the company posted a larger-than-expected loss per share of $1.49, partly due to stock-based compensation linked to its March IPO, and forecasted capital expenditures of $20–$23 billion for the year. Shares initially rose but dropped by about 5% as investors reacted to the aggressive spending outlook and lower-than-expected adjusted operating income guidance. Analysts remain optimistic given CoreWeave's strong market position and a revenue backlog of $25.9 billion, though concerns persist about customer concentration and the sustainability of its growth. The company is expanding through the acquisition of Weights & Biases and continued investment in data centers. CoreWeave projects full-year revenue of $4.9–$5.1 billion, maintaining guidance above consensus estimates as it scales operations to meet increasing AI infrastructure demand.