CoreWeave Shares Drop 10% After Soft Q2 Guidance and Higher Capex Forecast

CNBC reported Thursday that CoreWeave shares slid as much as 10% in after-hours trading following a first-quarter earnings release that paired a revenue beat with a disappointing forward outlook and an upward revision to capital spending plans.

Q1 Beat Cannot Offset Soft Outlook

The AI infrastructure company posted first-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, topping analyst expectations of $1.97 billion. Revenue more than doubled compared with the same period a year earlier. The net loss, however, widened sharply to $740 million from $315 million in last year’s first quarter.

The softer reaction came from CoreWeave’s second-quarter revenue guidance. The company projected a range of $2.45 billion to $2.6 billion, with the midpoint falling well below the Wall Street consensus of $2.69 billion. Full-year guidance remained intact at $12 billion to $13 billion in sales.

Also Read: What CoreWeave’s IPO Means for AI Infrastructure Investment

Costs Surge as Buildout Accelerates

Operating expenses are expanding faster than revenue. Technology and infrastructure outlays jumped 127% year-over-year to $1.27 billion. Sales and marketing costs rose more than sixfold. The company also lifted the lower bound of its 2026 capital expenditure forecast, now targeting $31 billion to $35 billion, citing component price pressures tied to supply chain conditions.

CoreWeave co-founder and CEO Mike Intrator told analysts the company has the relationships and financial capacity to manage those pressures. He pointed to a $99.4 billion contracted revenue backlog and roughly 3.5 gigawatts of total committed power capacity as evidence of structural demand.

Background: Heavy Debt Fuels Rapid Expansion

CoreWeave has leaned heavily on debt markets to fund its race against established hyperscalers. During the first quarter the company raised $8.5 billion in new debt. Total debt stood at nearly $25 billion by quarter-end, with more than $20 billion in combined debt and equity secured so far in 2026. S&P upgraded the company’s credit outlook to positive from stable during the period, according to CFO Nitin Agrawal.

Key backer Nvidia purchased an additional $2 billion in CoreWeave shares during the quarter. The chipmaker’s investment came alongside CoreWeave’s commitment to adopt a broad range of Nvidia products. Despite Thursday’s decline, the stock had still gained close to 80% in 2026 before the earnings release, far outpacing the S&P 500’s roughly 7% advance over the same stretch.

Intrator argued investors are too focused on near-term fluctuations. He described the broader shift toward AI-driven infrastructure as a generational economic change that underpins long-term demand for the company’s data center capacity.

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