CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) Shares Down 9.8% on Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• CoreWeave shares fell 9.8% to $43.66 after Citigroup cut its price target from $159 to $128, while maintaining a Buy rating. Trading volume was 161% above the daily average.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $129.41.
• The company reported 112.5% year-over-year revenue growth, but remains unprofitable and has a high debt-to-equity ratio of 5.53, highlighting financial risks alongside its rapid expansion.

CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 9.8% during trading on Thursday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $159.00 to $128.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. CoreWeave traded as low as $40.58 and last traded at $43.66. Approximately 83,478,263 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 161% from the average daily volume of 31,951,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.42.

CRWV has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of CoreWeave in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Northland Securities set a $200.00 target price on CoreWeave in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CoreWeave from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on CoreWeave from $99.00 to $70.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on CoreWeave in a research report on Monday, September 21st. They set a "sell" rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CoreWeave presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $129.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at CoreWeave

In other news, CFO Nitin Agrawal sold 22,579 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.13, for a total transaction of $1,809,255.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 110,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,815,662.21. This represents a 17.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jeff Baker sold 6,670 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.16, for a total transaction of $407,937.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 14,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $866,637.20. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 4,211,804 shares of company stock valued at $382,310,687 in the last three months. 24.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CoreWeave News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting CoreWeave this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup kept a Buy rating while cutting its price target to $128 from $159, reflecting a still-bullish view despite the lower forecast. Citigroup price target report
• Positive Sentiment: Some coverage argues the selloff may have left CoreWeave undervalued relative to its sales and points to a large revenue backlog as a potential support for the investment case. However, the backlog’s value depends on the company’s ability to finance and build capacity. CoreWeave stock may be undervalued
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are debating whether CoreWeave’s rapid expansion can generate sufficient returns: its GPU contracts and backlog offer growth potential, but also raise concerns about customer concentration, depreciation and the cost of funding infrastructure. Counterparty concentration and depreciation define CoreWeave
• Negative Sentiment: Political opposition is the main immediate headwind. Democratic election wins and local ballot measures opposing data centers have heightened fears of moratoriums, tighter rules and delays to planned projects. One report said voters opposed data centers in 40 of 41 local measures, adding to uncertainty about whether planned capacity can be built. Data-center ballot measures and AI infrastructure stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Debt and financing risks are also weighing on the stock. Reports describe falling bonds alongside shares and warn that borrowing to fund GPU and data-center expansion could strain the business if projects are delayed or customer demand fails to cover investment costs. CoreWeave versus Nebius debt risks

Institutional Trading of CoreWeave

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRWV. State Street Corp raised its stake in CoreWeave by 139.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,058,846 shares of the company's stock valued at $702,638,000 after purchasing an additional 4,113,873 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its position in CoreWeave by 55.7% during the second quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 10,891,267 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,084,117,000 after buying an additional 3,897,741 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in CoreWeave by 266.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,284,121 shares of the company's stock worth $254,421,000 after acquiring an additional 2,387,337 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of CoreWeave in the second quarter worth approximately $127,936,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of CoreWeave in the first quarter valued at about $95,135,000.

CoreWeave Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.53. The company has a market cap of $20.03 billion, a PE ratio of -11.96 and a beta of 7.71. The business has a fifty day moving average of $77.26 and a 200-day moving average of $90.42.

CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($1.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.52) by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion for the quarter. CoreWeave had a negative net margin of 25.41% and a negative return on equity of 47.95%. The business's revenue was up 112.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.27) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CoreWeave Inc. will post -4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CoreWeave Company Profile

CoreWeave, Inc is a specialized cloud computing company that provides infrastructure designed for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and other high-performance computing workloads. Its platform gives customers access to accelerated computing resources, including graphics processing units (GPUs), along with the networking, storage, and software tools needed to develop, train, and deploy demanding applications.

The company offers cloud services for AI model training and inference, visual effects and rendering, scientific computing, and other data-intensive workloads.

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