Cathie Wood has become a closely watched figure in the investing world. Through a grouping of exchange-traded funds managed by her Ark Invest company, Wood focuses on buying companies known for disruptive innovation and working in fields such as robotics, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.
One of Wood’s most recent purchases was on Feb. 20, when Wood purchased $3.2 million of CoreWeave (CRWV) stock. The purchase, which was made through Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), was Wood’s seventh purchase of CRWV stock in February alone, bringing Ark Invest’s total commitment to $181.3 million in stock.
What does Wood see in CoreWeave stock? Let’s take a closer look.
About CoreWeave Stock
CoreWeave is a Livingston, New Jersey-based cloud computing company that provides GPU-accelerated cloud infrastructure that developers and companies can use to design, train, and run AI applications. CoreWeave’s turnkey solutions are in high demand as hyperscalers seek to add computing capacity—and it can be quicker to purchase that capacity from companies like CoreWeave than to build and outfit data centers of their own. It has a market cap of nearly $52 billion.
Shares are up 152% in the last year, soundly beating the S&P 500 ($SPX), which is up 21% over the same period. But while CoreWeave has been a big winner over the last 12 months, its performance pales in comparison to competitor Nebius Group (NBIS), whose stock is up about 200% in the last year.
CoreWeave’s forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is 4.3, having dropped in recent weeks. Last summer, the P/S was nearly 20, so in comparison, CoreWeave is a much better value today.
CoreWeave Beats on Earnings
Even though CoreWeave isn’t turning a profit yet—it's still in the rapid growth phase—the company’s most recent earnings report showed losses were much less than analysts expected.
Revenue in the third quarter was $1.34 billion, up 133% from a year ago. The company posted a net loss of $110.1 million, versus a loss of $359.8 million in Q3 2024, and its earnings per share loss of $0.31 was better than analysts’ expectations of a loss of $0.54 per share.
Management announced that the company nearly doubled its revenue backlog in the quarter, bringing it to $55 billion. It expanded its partnership with OpenAI with a $6.5 billion deal, bringing the company’s total commitment to $22.4 billion, and inked a deal with Meta Platforms (META) that could be valued as much as $14.2 billion.
CoreWeave added 120 megawatts of computing capacity during the quarter, giving it a total of 590 MW, with plans to add more. CoreWeave has total contracted power commitments of 2.9 gigawatts, the company said.
“These results demonstrate the deep confidence customers have in CoreWeave, the company they trust as their essential cloud for artificial intelligence. We continue to scale aggressively, even as the industry remains capacity-constrained,” CEO Michael Intrator said.
CoreWeave is expected to deliver its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results after the closing bell today, Feb. 26. Management expects full-year revenue to be in the range of $5.05 billion to $5.15 billion and operating income to be between $690 million and $720 million.
What Do Analysts Expect for CRWV Stock?
Of 30 analysts who cover CRWV stock, none of them suggest selling—an indication that analysts strongly support the company’s long-term growth story. Seventeen of them have “Buy” ratings, and 13 suggest that investors hold the stock.
The mean price target of $122 indicates roughly a 22% increase in the stock, while the high target of $180 hints toward a possible increase of 80%.
CoreWeave’s earnings report will be interesting. While the company’s rising backlog and its total contracted power commitments signal aggressive expansion, management also warned that fourth-quarter earnings will be negatively impacted by an unidentified third-party data center provider that is behind schedule. While those delays are expected to be temporary, there is the potential for a pullback in stock price should CoreWeave not meet analysts’ consensus earnings expectations for a loss of $0.61 per share.
On the date of publication, Patrick Sanders had a position in: NBIS . All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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